Star King: Origins
by Crystalline Princess
Summary: In an attempt to escape those who abuse his abilities, a cursed Artificer sets off into Realmspace on a stolen Netherese vessel to seek out adventure and a strong & strange crew to survive said adventure. Along the way he meets space pirates, a teleporting Ninja Jester, and a bunch of Welsh Sea Elves. Set (somewhat loosely) in the Forgotten Realms & Spelljammer settings.


"Now entering Wildspace."

The enormous craft breached Toril's atmosphere; rising into the night sky. Selûne and it's tears were clearly visible; more beautiful than they ever could have appeared from the ground. Everything appeared to be holding together; gaskets were steaming, needles were shaking but all within expected parameters. The ship was still in the business of reconfiguring itself – Alexander had planned this for some time. Dozens of worker drone constructs were buzzing around, flicking switches, pulling levers, with some of them hammering and reconstructing various bits and bobs.

Alexander fell back in his captain's seat, staring at a huge magic mirror; which could show him various images, like a huge flat scrying orb. Above deck of course, he could see everything with his own eyes, and there were a number of telescopes and other instruments for when the magical sensors failed. The main control deck was still a mess of tubes and half-finished clockwork; being stashed away or completed by the drones, but it was starting to take a coherent whole. In parts, it resembled his Laboratory beneath Helm's hold(and the Cathedral this section was built from), but was slowly transforming into something more like a throne room; but with a more homely feel.

And this would be his home, for the foreseeable future. Onwards and upwards. He'd spent much of his life running; but at least now, he was making something of that act. It was lonely though – on board the ship. He had the semi-intelligent drones; and Scruffy (Or just Scruff-2 for short) who was quickly gaining the sentience of the original. Oh, and the... Beholder project he'd managed to subdue, for now. He hoped to turn it into a Alongside the regular worker drones; there were the intelligent mechanoids Alexander daughter and her friends had found somewhere underground in Neverwinter, who were about the best company. But given their narrow range of experiences, they didn't exactly have a lot to talk about.

The ship's navigation and "computer" system had developed from a device he called "George 3000"- an intelligent artefact imbued with strong teleportation magic. it was busy reaching it's influence throughout the ship – through the former Cathedral, and the Netherese city it was attached to, figuring out it's own systems. A number of other artefacts were on board – that allowed the City to float, and travel, but ordinarily a city of this sort travelled at a much slower rate, as opposed to the many thousands of miles an hour the ship would eventually have to travel at. Redundant or damaged parts of the city were being jettisoned – eventually the ship would be compacted into a more manageable size. Of course, once it was in space, free of the pull of Toril's gravity, there was a lot more free power, and Alexander was already figuring out how to make it more efficient.

As both captain _and_ chief "science" officer, Alexander was finding no short of work to do. But even if he could keep busy, it was still lonely – he needed a _crew._ People with personalities and specialisations out of the realm of his current synthetic friends. The space around Toril was generally quite busy – so it should be no hard feat. The problem was of course, that he was trying not to get dragged into anything – as this is why he was leaving Toril in the first place. He had to remain relatively unseen. This itself came as a great cost – cloaking a ship the size of a small city was not easy. A mythal he'd collected distorted light and space around the ship so it remained relatively unseen and undetectable. But sooner or later, it would be drained, burnt out, unusable for months, perhaps years. It would last him as far as Selûne, at best.

"George, have the drones finished fixing up any shuttles yet?"

"Yes, captain. We have one Mosquito mostly functional, and they're working on a second already, though progress is much slower. We need to focus on getting the ship fully operational and up to speed. Both figuratively and literally, I mean."

"Why are they starting a second if the first is only 'mostly' functional?"

"I believe they are following your example."

Alexander scowled at that remark, before raising his eyebrows and nodding to himself. That sort of thing was quite like him.

"I need to find a crew. Hire an adventuring party, maybe. Though this is a long term thing. Do your databases contain any suggestions?"

"Err, let me see. Just a sec. I'm sending a drone to one of the libraries. Um, scanning. Please hold on. 5 minutes left. Maybe."

Alexander scratched his beard and tapped on his chair. "Well?"

"One drone seems to have figured out the layout of the central library, though reckons there probably isn't much on recent Adventuring parties on Selûne and it's tears."

"Well, it was a Longshot I suppose."

"You just left behind the Longshots."

"How about the Rock of Bral, specifically? That's probably where I'll have to dock, so may as well narrow it down a bit."

"Another drone is checking one of the commanding officer's office, as he says he could have sworn there were several books on Netherese contacts. He says there are a number of suitable Adventuring parties available for hire, that the Netherese have been in recent contact with..."

"Hmm, I'm beginning to see the problem with this. Alright, our current on-board knowledge probably isn't very useful for leading us to reliable, trustworthy people."

"Oh the other hand, if you want to find a good Priestess of Shar..."

"No thank you. Hmm, I think I'll go take a bath."

Alexander's cabin had a wonderful white enamel bath, complete with some of the finest Lantanese plumbing. He decided to throw in some bathsalts he'd picked up in the Land of Fate at some point – quality Zakharan stuff – and relax. After about 5 minutes of slouching down, staring at the ceiling, he became entranced by the _hum_ of the ship's systems; mysterious undefinable power being pumped throughout, moving the craft through space at increasingly immense velocities and generating gravity so he could actually _have_ a normal bath in the first place. His eyes closed, and he drifted off.

He woke up with a dagger to his throat, with a strange woman grappling onto him. This was not an entirely unfamiliar occurance for Alexander. But here?

"Don't worry, there's a towel around your waist."

"Oh, thank the stars. Wait, how did the towel _get_ there?"

"That's not important. Alexander Sondheim, I've been searching you for some time, and I finally found you."  
"Oh well, it's always nice to meet one of my fans. I'm afraid if you're going to get me to build something evil for you I'll have to throw you out the Airlock, though. I'm trying to start afresh. Why do you think I went to all this trouble? And how did you get on board? And why are you holding a _knife to my throat_."

"I'll explain later. I need to make sure you're the real Alexander. There are imposters, you understand."

"Well, imitation is the sincerest form of – urk – flattery." spluttered Alexander, as the apparently masked assailant grappled him tight.

"I understood the real Alexander to be dead. And, even if you are the real Alexander, likely compromise by the Netherese. And lo and behold, here you are on a space faring craft made from a Netherese city."

"Yes, made from. Taken from. Conquered, liberated, re-appropriated; take your pick. If I was being manipulated by the Netherese, then why on Earth would I have stolen one of the cities, mid-attack?"

"How do I know _you_ stole it? As far as I know, the Longshots defeated the city. It stands to reason your sentimental daughter would have spared your life."

"Now, you're getting into conspiracy theory territory. Though, granted, the city actually being warped into the stratosphere and converted into a spaceship instead of being destroyed does _sound_ like one... but anyway, why are you really here? Are you an Assassin? You look like an Assassin."

The probably-assassin tightened her grip on her knife, and her breathing became heavy. "I've been looking for you for a _long_ time. Or more accurately, my father was, but I have taken upon myself to do so now. I have also heard you are very dangerous, and that calamity tends to befall those who associate with you. But nobody was able to state exactly how this would happen so..."

"I see, so you thought you'd threaten me with a knife to see what happens. That seems smart."

"I am smart. And cautious. I wouldn't be alive otherwise."

"As is often the case for assassin-types. But something has made you desperate." said Alexander, paying very close attention to the assassin's hand. It was ever so slight – but he could make out a distinct blue glow radiating down her hand, into her glove. Spellplague? Though it's shade seemed a little off. "Look, this isn't going to help. Let me go and we can talk."

"How do I know you won't try something on me? I've managed to sneak aboard your ship when you thought your efforts to be entirely clandestine. And you're deeply resourceful and... dangerous."

"Well, I can't really do anything for you like this. Plus, I'm an Artificer. I need _stuff_ to work with, and there's not much here. Though I suppose if I took that brush handle, and that length of wire, hmm... _guard robots get in here!_ " he shouted. Apparently he'd been stalling. A number of small but well armed drones burst in the door.

The Assassin stared them down, and sighed. "This looks like too much effort." she said, and retracted the knife, placing it in a clandestine location somewhere under her skirt.

"Thank you, dear." said Alexander. "Now, can I please get dressed?" 

* * *

_Recruitment Log #1 – Kenzaki Chiemi - "The Jester"_

 _For purposes of profiling, prosperity and security, initial encounters with prospective crew members are being automatically logged. Also, I don't trust people. I see everything. Also you people talk too much. Why can't any of you have normal backstories?_

 _~ George 3000_

* * *

Alexander cupped his hands and stared at the woman opposite him. She was somewhat tanned, with intense eyes; and wore a deep blue and black dress tied with a burgundy sash. Her legs were crossed, her arms folded. Clearly, she understood she was in a precarious condition, but wasn't about to let down her walls.

"So... I'm not entirely sure to what to ask first. How you got aboard, _why_ you came aboard, _who_ on Toril are you, and also... can I tell you that you have the most _magnificent_ eyes?" he said, stroking his chin and grinning somewhat forwardly.

"What, really? Ew."

"Hey, it was worth a try! Not as if I'm going to have much else in the way of companionship."

"With someone who as far as you know is trying to kill you?"

"Would be very far from the first time, to be honest." he said, scratching the back of his neck.

The girl shook her head and sighed. "As I said, my father sought you out, originally. I became separated from him long ago, and I don't think he ever managed to contact you."

"Who is your father?"

"Dr. Kenzaki. A fairly well known alchemist in Wa and Kozakura. Not as known in these parts."

"What, in space?"

"You know what I mean!"

"Let's see, Dr. Kenzaki, Dr. Kenzaki... hmm, ah yes... Kenzaki Kenma. I exchanged notes with him, once... a promising fellow. Met him during one of my escape attempts from Helm's hold. Seemed trustworthy enough to deal with."

"Unfortunately, you never shared much of your research on things like... spatial transference, teleportation... this was what caught his interest, you see. The notes you gave him were incomplete."

Alexander slouched to one side of his chair. "Those were early days. It didn't become quite as much of a focus as it was... later on."

"When you made Penelope."

"'Made' is an unfortunate coin of term. That's my daughter we're talking about."

"And my sister in this case. Your daughter's cousin. I'm curious how you even tell the difference?"

"That's not fair. It's true the lines get blurry at times..." he gestured, waving towards the constructs repairing bits and bobs in the background. "But again, she is my daughter. I have many failings as a father, but I lost most of my family, outlived them even. I take them quite seriously."

"You don't even know who I am do you? We're family, almost... would have been, anyway."

Alexander stared at the ceiling. He stared at the girl. He scratched his chin. "Not a clue sorry. Um, this is awkward, but did we... have an encounter at some point in the past? Is that what this is about? Sorry, I lose track sometimes." he chuckled.

She muttered something distasteful in Wa-an under her breath. "Rotten old man. You courted my Aunt. Your daughter is my cousin."

"That... I'm not sure how much that narrows it down, actually. Let's see, you look part Fae... no offence if I'm stereotyping... are you related to... maybe Alstromeria? At a guess?"

"Yes! I won't bore you with the exact details of my family history. You know how it is with that clan. But I'm Chiemi - the daughter of Dr. Kenzaki, and Alstromeria's sister, Elwyn. They had two daughters – myself, and Sarah. Elwyn was oddly fey-touched and couldn't reproduce – normally, so she struck a deal that made her normal-ish for a year and a day. That came with side effects, unfortunately. She took some kind of potion, I don't know. Some stupid bargain with a witch or Archfey. We Ravenvynes seem to have a habit of passing on magical mutations."

"I think I understand, so far. So you and your sister were both two attempts at creating life where nature or forces beyond our control dictated they shouldn't happen. I can get behind that."

"Yes. They went their separate ways after that year was up. Sarah happened when they happened upon each other again, after that year. Instinctively drawn together, or whatever. Adorable love story, turmoil, reunion, more turmoil, eventual happy ever after. Maybe. Who knows. I'm not sure I care. I just care that my parents messed around with magic, and now I'm all messed up and weird."

"Weird can be a good thing, you know. I'm... partial to weird."

"Yeah, that's easy to say when it's not distancing you from people. I mean... literally, in this case."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I was born... anchored to the Feywild. Phasing between this plane and Faerie, into other planes of the Feywild... eventually I managed to grab hold of my... position, and the phasing seemed to transmute into teleport magic."

"Ah. Like some kind of advanced Fey-step."

"Yeah. For me it's amplified. And watch -" Chiemi took out her knife, and several other knives; held in her hand, spread out like a fan. In her other hand, she clicked her fingers, and the knives disappear. The was a _poof_ and a pattering, and one by one in rapid succession, the knives appeared stuck in the ground around Alexander's chair.

"That's... that's most impressive. I'd rather you didn't give the constructs more repair work, though. We need the man... err, bot power."

"I don't even know how it works anymore. Just being... dislodged from reality, seemed to change my relationship with it in a pretty fascinating way. Staying in the Feywild seems to stabilise my condition, but even in the realm of Faerie there are places I cannot stay for very long, for fear of being shunted back to where I came, or into some demi-plane."

Alexander fidgeted around for a wand – a clunky looking contraption with all sorts of moving twiddly bits, and a small orb presenting him various tidbits of information. He waved it in her general direction, and hmmed and hawwed a lot at what he saw. "I have... seen things like this. In my Youth, my family came into contact with Artfiacts. Not everyone shared my affinity for them. I heard rumours that my grandmother met a fate similar to you, stuck phasing in and out of Faerie. I could never confirm. So, I take it this has something to do with how you got on board?"

Chiemi nodded. "Right. I was a guest at the Midwinter festival. Around Midwinter, the Feywild comes into closer contact with Neverwinter, so it wasn't hard for me to to stay there for a while. I shadowed cousins Ellie and Lily a lot. They were highly distracted by the Festival. I met your other daughter, Penny, too. I heard about her. She was like me."

"Different but similar. I wonder, you say your mother took a potion, but surely Dr. Kenzaki ending up with my research notes had something to do with this?"

Chiemi shrugged. "Probably. Like I say, we seem to pass on latent energies, and he spent a lot of time around experimental devices, like every other tinkering sort. He was more interesting in fleshy bits, creatures, but became fascinated by creatures that could teleport, so who knows what he came into contact with. Wouldn't surprise me if I was born in a lab. There's enough of that going around, I understand. If I knew exactly how I ended up this way, I wouldn't be here now."

"So this might be my fault is what you're saying? You're hoping I see something of my daughter in you, and help you out of guilt or goodwill?"

"Yes. I'm broken and I'm tired of it. I want you to fix it. I've spent my years in the Feywild, working for Sídhe Lords and Archfey. As you may well know, someone with my abilities is a desirable candidate for certain forms of employment. I'm getting tired of this, and I'd like to be able to travel elsewhere. Both in this plane, and the parts of Faerie that I don't trust my powers around. Once I heard you might be around, I tailed the Longshots, did the whole cool Ninja jumping and teleporting on falling debri thing and in all the confusion, snuck on board, and hid out in a cupboard." confessed Chiemi.

"So you are an Assassin, then?"

"I don't like to use that word. It simplifies what I do, but it is close to what I was implying. I'm not a Thief, either, though there have been times when I've had to pull off a heist. Which even you are no stranger to, of course."

"Of course."

"They call me... the Jester."

"You're not a very funny woman, for a Jester. I mean, no offence."

"I _can_ be. When I'm not in survival mode. Well, I've worked as a court Jester. I can perform a lot of tricks with my abilities. One of those tricks may happen to be making bodies disappear, yes... though often, I'm not the one who stuck the knife in them. A lot of what I did was clean up... as well as reconnaissance. I'd often scout ahead for some pompous Eladrin Lady and her hunting party, and help suss out the level of danger – which is always highly variable in the Feywild may I add - or whittle down the beasties with a few too many teeth for her to take."

"So you were a general handy-woman. A high level flunkie for hire."

"Something like this, yes. People in the Feywild can get locked into a narrative, though, and mine was to _only_ be a Flunkie. Your pet Ninja that could slip into your room and slit your throat in your sleep, but never does. It's rare the story called for me to be a central player."

"You sound like you could be a _terribly_ useful addition to my crew. Plus, I can see a certain family resemblance to my dear Alstromeria..."

"Oh no you don't. I want you to help stabilise my abilities, and send me back home."

"But you wanted to travel, yes?" Alexander rose from his chair and flung out his arms. "What better opportunity! We could see the stars together! You, me, George, the constructs... that intelligent fungus growing in the privy..."

"No. …well... maybe if I was duly compensated..."

"Ah, a Mercenary through and through. I'm beginning to see why you could never be a hero in your own right..."

"N-no! That's not it. It's not... I never said I wanted to be a Hero. I just wanted to be someone other than a notorious teleporting thug. I have this awesome power, and it's never really been mine!"

"I know this. I have an incredible mind – or _so I've been told_ isn't that right George?" - he chuckled to no response - "but it was always hijacked for others. My daughter's powers were used by an evil woman. She trapped both of us in her schemes. So yes, I sympathise with your situation."

"So you'll help me?"

"In return for joining my crew. I will find a way back for you, eventually. I was never able to fully cure my daughters – or Alstromeria's other daughter – however. I am a genius, but I work more with machines, and my genius is somewhat... unpredictable. From what I can tell, as long as you remain on this ship, you are fine. It keeps people grounded, in more ways than one. George, too, has incredible powers of teleportation."

"Fine... it's not like I have much else I want to do. I'll travel with you for a while. But don't expect me to drop my guard... I know your reputation, Alexander Sondheim. There are things I have not told you about me."

Alexander twirled around. "Great! Welcome to the crew of the Star King, Chiemi 'The Jester' Kenzaki." in his enthusiasm, Alexander tripped over one of the knives that had been planted in the ground, and faceplanted on the ground.

Chiemi laughed. It was entertaining to see others play the Fool for once.

* * *

 _Interlude #1_

* * *

"We're getting ready to all-stop near the Rock of Bral. The cloak will only last another hour, maybe two, so that's all you have to get in and out. We can't dock properly either so... you'll have to take one of the skiffs out there." George informed Alexander. "By the way, Netherse ships are _really hated_ by other Spelljammers. Until we remodel, we definitely don't want to be clearly seen."

"Not much time for sight seeing then. In, pick up some supplies, and out. You won't be averse to helping, I take it, Chiemi?"

"Never been to the Rock of Bral. Or much of anywhere that's not the Feywild. Even if it's only for an hour or two... why the hells not?" she said, stretching her arms and yawning after one of her power naps. "I get the feeling you're going to end up doing some 'sight seeing' regardless, though."

"Touché, my dear. I consider myself a fine connoisseur, not a simple tourist. Scruff-2, is the Mosquito ready? Can it accommodate 2?"

"Ding. Ding ding."

"So it's ready, but only one person can fit comfortably? Guess you'll have to give this one a miss Chiemi..."

"Like shit I will. I read your star charts, there isn't another stop for 100 million miles. Which would be a day if we were at full speed, but apparently some genius decided to throw together a spaceship out of a city that has trouble hovering. Don't you have a second one?"

"George is working on getting us up to full speed, so it won't be _that_ long. Failing that, well, we could always double up..."

Chiemi would come to regret this decision. The Mosquito had barely enough room either side of the cockpit for someone to smoosh, but they were in constant contact with the other person, and space in general was limited. While Alexander was quite cautious of where he placed himself and his extremities, he had quite a strong musk... an odour some flousies no doubt found attractive, she thought, though likely due to the fact that he'd been doing some sweaty work and hadn't bathed in some days, as eccentric genius types often don't.

"Can you... shift over more slightly? I have to make this turn and, um..."

"I literally can't. _Maybe_ if I time it right I can try teleporting to either side of the cockpit, according to your arm movements..." she intoned.

"Really?"

" _No._ I'd end up phasing into you or something."

Alexander began to turn the ship, narrowly dodging the edge of a small asteroid as it veered to one side. The Rock of Bral was clear ahead, and there was a space in the docks.

"I think... that's a Yakuza ship we're docking behind. Better tread carefully. You have any experience with them?"

"What, because I'm from Kara-tur? Just like we're all Geisha and Samurai ramen chefs and fight _kaiju_? Also, Yakuza aren't bad necessarily. Though not good people to cross."

"Just wondering. I mean, they do get around. They're on the Rock of Bral, for a start."

"So are we. Let me... urgh..." Chiemi stretched an arm behind her, into a bag of holding, and pulled out two wide brimmed hats. "here's the Hats of disguise. Any idea what we should go for?"

"How about Yakuza?"

"I'll hit you. Let's just be regular human traders. With a touch of adventurer, of course. Don't draw too much attention to ourselves."

"Those fellows at the docks – can you see them?" said Chiemi, spying with an eyeglass, which she passed to Alexander. "They look important, but not Yakuza... probably traders, who've delved into dungeons once or twice to bolster their stock of wares..."

"Ah, yes. That looks about right, for us. I would say." said Alexander, spying a couple of humans in respectable dark leather clothing. "Okay, let's hat up! Docking in 5, 4, 3, 2..."

 _Wham._

"Shit. I think we hit something."

"What was it?"

There was a small crowd of people gathering around the docks. There was a figure, obscured by lavish white robes, strewn across the top of the pier.

"I um, think we hit a person. Or some sort of... clothes wearing, space faring creature. Looks like it was on it's own trajectory and we knocked it off a bit..."

"Is it... dead? Wait, how did we miss it?"

"No idea." Alexander took out a small telescope. "It's getting up. Looks a bit beaten up but it's walking like a normal humanoid now... it looks like it dropped something, and it's bending over to pick it up... and now the robe is dropping and... oh my..."

"Give me that!" scowled Chiemi, grabbing the scope from his hand. "Oh my..." 

* * *

_Recruitment Log #2 – Raia_

 _There are many wonders out there in space. Sometimes, one does not even have to venture far from their homeworld to encounter some genuinely bizarre crap._

 _~ George 3000_

* * *

Alexander and Chiemi emerged from an alleyway. Their personal cloaks had just run out(it was amazing quite how many cloaking spells and the like the Netherese kept lying around) so it was time to rely on their disguises. They'd have to keep a low profile, and be fast. And hope nothing docked in the space their Mosquito officially wasn't taking up. Apparently Alexander didn't have time, or rather was far too elseways focused, to research a proper back route into the Rock of Bral. Chiemi was uncomfortable relying on magic to this degree – even though she'd been using magic all her life. She was skilled at infiltration, reconnaissance and was a little upset she wasn't consulted on this terrible plan. Not that she knew much about the Rock of Bral, but still.

"What's bothering you?" said Alexander, noticing her scrunched up face, and distant eyes.

"Oh, nothing. What do we need here, anyway? Surely the city you stole had enough supplies for you. And didn't you have people to get things for you when you were hiding out before now?"

"Trust me, I always forget things... I get carried away in what I'm doing and realise I haven't bought any milk in a week. Or changed my clothes. Anyway, I'm not big on Netherese stuff and it was a pain getting things to the Cathedral when I was hiding out. Obviously, I gave preference to alchemist, artificer type stuff..."

"What sort of Netherese stuff do you need to replace?"

"Oh, you know. Silverware. Spices. That sort of thing. Did you know the Netherese don't use Paprika? I was as shocked as you are. I had just assumed there would be an endless supply, but nyet – no Paprika."

" _Really_?"

"They have _very nice_ Cutlery on the Rock of Bral, you know. And they have these special moon rocks, they're like pumice... from when Selûne was blasted all those aeons ago. Great for scrubbing off the residue of strange liquids, and the sort."

"Gag."

"We'll need to pick up some up to date star charts... and various up to date tomes on the politics and demographics of... well, space."

"And chase after that girl you knocked onto the docks."

"Well, yes! Could you blame me? So many questions to act. Why couldn't we see her? How did she survive the impact? How did she survive in space?"

"And let me guess, 'would you like to come take a stroll, my dear?'"

"If only we had the time!" he said, staring at a pocket watch(a rare item even on the Rock of Bral). They were hiding out in a back alley, around from the Shou Embassy which was just on the dockfronts. The low city was much like any other city of questionable moral integrity – there was a certain stench of roguery in the air. The streets weren't exactly filthy, but they gave the impression of being hard-trodden. A certain sort of person might feel welcome here. This was not Alexander – though Alexander did not feel welcome most places. Chiemi was used to places like this; a great many of her excursions into "real world" involved making contact(or taking out) some disreputable type who'd stowed him or herself away there. It reminded her a little of Luskan, another port city – not a place many would reflect on with a sense of nostalgia, but there were times when she would

fatigue of the brightness and the glamour of the Feywild, where she was bound magically to spend most of her time.

Of course, it didn't take too long somewhere like this to miss the Feywild, too. On the way to the Thieves market, they passed a worn out, gaunt young man with two black eyes; knocked unconscious over a smashed up barrel, no doubt over some dispute with one of the local thugs-but-not-quite-cutthroats. There was some, but not much blood on the cobble stones below. It felt like it should rain here – and sometimes it did, the Rock having it's own weather. There did seem to be a light drizzle forming. A couple of small puddles suggested it had been raining somewhat earlier in the day – and also that the area around the market was in need of some repair. The docks, still visible as they crossed, had been kept more pristine, being the first impression people had of the Rock, but still had a run down charm around the largely, sturdy Warehouses.

The Thieves market – or Lower Market to give it's proper name - was a ramshackle affair, ready to wind down to the day but still with a certain degree of bustle. Humans, halflings, and a couple of races even Alexander was not entirely familiar with were peddling cheap wares, little of which would surely be of interest to a master Artificer. It was littered with wooden stalls and a poor sense of aesthetic planning.

"What can we possibly want here? Isn't there somewhere... more up market?"

"Of course there is. The Great Market. I'd love to see it, but we don't have time to make it there. We'll have to find what we need he-"

Something caught Alexander's eye. To one corner, there was an impressive looking pirate, slamming her hand down on a wooden counter. There was a look of intensity, of purpose, that seemed completely out of place here – or at least she was talented enough at feigning it, as many rogues were. The stall owner she was glaring down was an Orc – looking military, probably a "retired" Scro officer, selling a number of weapons obviously too refined to be crafted by him personally. He appeared genuinely frightened by the woman, which from what little Alexander knew of the Scro, was likely quite impressive. She was a little taller than average height, well toned, tawny skinned and well dressed.

"Listen, Goruruk -"

"That is not a word for humans to use! Nor to speak as a slur. All Scro contribute to the great war effort." he said, shaking slightly but regaining his composure.

"Whatever, ex-captain Slunk. Obviously, you were no longer deemed useful enough at playing toy soldier anymore, so here you are selling shit weapons in a bazaar for bums. Do you want me to break the other leg?"

"If you're trying to rile me up to get info-"

"Ahem. Have I interrupted something?" said Alexander, interrupting them.

"Oh, nothing. Just me having a heart to heart with some _gandu_ Orc about a slave girl, he claims to know nothing about."

"Slaves you say?" Alexander mused, raising an eyebrow. "Not your slave, I should hope? Why, a woman with your composure should have no trouble finding any number of willing servants."

"I'm insulted you'd even consider it. Slavers are weak, pitiful people. Even when they're strong, they're still nothing more than bullies with borrowed power." her brow creased with tension, and she motioned to the Orc. "This one, kept slaves. Worse than that, when he was forced to retire, he dealt in slaves. Highly profitable, you see, and he knew how to manage them. Was hoping to replace his lost leg with a better prosthetic, buy some magic trinkets – make himself better, stronger – some corruption of a model Scro. But he will _always_ be weak." she said, spitting her words both literally and figuratively at ex-captain Slunk, landing on his oddly shaped nose.

"I'm not – I saw the _error_ of my ways. Indeed, the Scro are not beyond committing injustices, and the taking of slaves of course -"

"You dealt with slaves of your own accord! Everyone knows this. You _know_ who took that girl. She was valuable cargo. You have contacts. You would have heard, with something as big as this..."

"Hold on now my darling, you hate slavers but you just called a _girl_ cargo. How on Toril is she 'valuable' to begin with?"

"I mean to _these_ sorts. Of course to me she is not cargo."

"What is she to you then?"

"None of your business. It's not who she is to me, it's who she is in general. Not all pirates pillage, you know? Some of us fuck things up for slavers. It's a matter of principle." she hissed as she noticed the Orc had already made his abrupt exit while she was distracted. "Shit. Well, that's me fucked for this job. Don't have the patience for slinking in and out of the shadows today."

"So she's still currency to you, at the end of the day." snarked Chiemi. "Looking to earn some kudos to weigh against the pillaging you probably did before this."

"No..." she sighed and dropped her fists. "Look, I've had a very bad day, and I have a job to do – yes, it is a _real_ job. The last thing I need is some strangers getting in my face. You'll give me pimples from all the stress!" the pirate almost immediately dropped into a more jovial, approachable tone. Reading the atmosphere, she could see she was outnumbered should she provoke something. "I'm done here. Come, walk with me. You owe me for this, so at least keep me entertained." she said, wiping her brow. "You're not... you're not Yakuza, are you?"

"No... I mean yes -" Chiemi elbowed Alexander - "I mean no."

The pirate shrugged. "I was just trying to shake down this smelly little creature, but now you've walked in and ruined things. It's okay, he probably didn't know anything anyway. By the way - I can see through your disguises. You're a half-elf... and Shou..." she said pointing at Chiemi. "And you're... hmm... I'm not quite sure. Human, maybe something more. Aperusa?"

"Rashemi and Gur. I have heard of the Aperusa, in passing. An offshoot of ours, perhaps. Much in the way of stereotypes and tall tales, little factually known. Your people perchance?"

"No, though I heard my grandfather was. Probably where all the Spelljamming tomes came from when I was a youth. Who knows. Born and bred in Chavyondat, down in the Shining South. Was always captivated by the idea of Spelljamming... exploring the great unknown."

"So you became a pirate?"

"So my parents made some deal with some asshole for me to work as Cabin crew for some Imperial Elven vessel. Turned out they were ex-navy traders who bought the ship for a pretty penny. Not remotely above trading in slaves. It was shit work. Lots of scrubbing, listening to people with pointy ears and pompous moustaches telling me what to do. I got bored of that, so I started a mutiny, earned my first ship, an well, here I am several years later, freeing slaves. Oh, there's more to it, but I'm just telling you enough to hook you in and be interested in my obviously _noble_ and _valiant_ cause. If I tell you much more, I might have to lie just to keep you guessing."

"I cannot tell when you're being sarcastic."

"Good. You're more useful that way."

Alexander nervously checked his watch. It seemed that she was leading them in the direction of the Great Market, and he was unsure whether he'd make it back out in time. There were a lot more distractions the further they walked, too. Though. the Lesser Market was getting ready to shut up shop – the streets further up were busier, with people drinking, dancing, falling about. It was his present company was ultimately what held his attention, however, and he was a little concerned for the ensuing ruckus that would happen if he tried to break off from her.

Chiemi folded her harms, and _tsked_ at Alexander, who seemed quite taken in by the mysterious pirate. Luckily she was appeared to be an ordinary human, so he was bound to let up soon enough. "Listen, we don't have time for this. We have to pick up some... special supplies and get back to our ship as soon as possible. We're on a tight schedule, and trying to keep our heads down."

"Ooh, that sounds shady." said the pirate, clapping her hands together. "How exciting. Don't worry, I'm a wealthy pirate captain with plenty of spare junk lying around. I can probably sort you out, for whatever. And help you make a clandestine exit. Just stick with me and my men."

"Where are your men?"

"Oh, around." she said, flickering her fingers in front of her. "There's one now. Mamba! Any leads on the girl?" she shouted to a rough looking swarthy sailor who was apparently sitting, gargoyle like on a low, battered rooftop. He had an impressive snake tattoo running down his exposed left arm and a jar of ale next to him.

"No ma'am. Been keeping lookout with Adder. Moving to higher ground after this. There's a festival on, right now so the streets are a bloomin' mess of debauchery. Not that I'd be complainin', ordinarily. Plus not nobody questions how you got up on a roof, when there's a festival on."

"Keep your good eye out for them, petal. And your not so good one too. Don't worry, we'll get that looked at tomorrow." the pirate gestured towards him, apparently dismissing him.  
"What a colourful fellow." remarked Alexander, scratching his chin.

"Says yourself. What's your name anyhow, goatee-and-sandals?"

"Alexander. My cynical assistant is Chiemi."

"Why'd you give her our real names, you idiot?"

"Nada."

"'Nada'? As in, nothing?"

"No, as in Nāda, as in sound, noise... I was a noisy baby, and a loud child, I'm told. Nada also means 'generosity' in... Midani or something. I like to think they had considered this, too."

"Tell me about this slave girl, Nada."

"Oh, apparently she's... quite powerful. And interesting and unique. But she had some charmed bracelet, some artificer's meddling – something along those lines - installed on her so she could be used by weak, cowardly men. I heard she has some fascinating psionic powers. Can get in your noggin." she said, tapping her angled pirate's hat. "And can project things from hers. They take her along on dangerous missions. She... keeps them safe."

"Sounds terrifying. Who's she running from, exactly, and how did she end up here?"

"Same slavers I liberated that ship from. Not the first time I've run afoul of them. Not sure how she ended up back here. Stowed away on a ship, maybe? About half an hour ago, one of my men tipped me off as to a sighting. She's one of the 'valuable' slaves I've been tracking for months. Lucked out, I guess, though a lot of lost things turn up on the Rock. It's why I spend so much time here."

"How terribly convenient." remarked Chiemi.

Bright lights could be seen coming from the square up ahead. The streets got noisier and brighter the more they closed in on the Market; special lanterns set up by the local wizards emitting various hues were hung on wires between lampposts, minstrels and bards sat on crates and barrels busking their hearts out in their luminous glow. The taverns were lively, and a select few shops had remained open to take advantage in the swell of activity. It seemed like it was more an event for locals, as the docks weren't particularly more full than usual, but active nonetheless.

"Hold up. There's a handy looking Artificer's store sign, just around this corner. Would my most gracious lady mind if I popped in briefly?"

"I suppose not." she shrugged. "Though of course, you're not shaking me off that easily. I have some things I would like to repair, also." she said, pulling out a small clockwork device from her satchel. It was somewhat drum shaped; and looked like it was meant to rotate something in the middle. It looked to be a component from some sort of weapon, probably an advanced ballista like the ones on the Sky Tower, where Alexander's old assistant Scruffy(the first) had taken up shop.

"Oh, I could probably take a look at that for you. I'm good with that sort of thing, you see."

"Pfft. I can fix it myself, you know? I'm just missing the right sort of cogs."

"You've studied Artifice?"

"Yes, a fair amount I would say. Not my primary field of interest – which is more swashbuckling and looking good while doing it – but I learned to repair and even throw together some fun doohickies in my time. Useful skill for a Spelljammer Captain to have, if you don't entirely trust your repair boy. Last thing I want is to get in a ship battle with some pimped out slaver ship without a full compliment of advanced murder devices. Of course, if you're willing to do some work on my ship – fix me up a few more - you'd be duly compensated..."

They approached the door of the eccentric wooden shack(adorned with gold decorations, clocks and statuettes of various sorts), and Alexander hesitated as he processed that last sentence.

"I'm not... I'm uncomfortable building weapons. For other people, at least. A bad history. It is not personal, though of course, we have only just met."

"Yeah, you haven't even slept with her yet." interjected Chiemi.

Nada tsked(in a less cynical fashion to how Chiemi tsks), and trotted into the open doorway. The shop's innards were not quite so impressive as the exterior. Which was quite typical of many an artificer – embellish the chassis, but keep everything working efficiently and straight forward as possible underneath. After all, things are going to get pretty crazy when you start adding magic, regardless. In particular, the well oiled components of the Artificer's store consisted on a small number of clocks – mostly Grandfather clocks of various designs, some trinkets on display on shelves either side of the room, and a sturdy mahogany counter separating the domain of the customer from that of the staff. There was quite plainly a back room and a basement, where much of the magic - both literally and figuratively - happened of course.

It seemed the shop already had a customer. It was a young girl, holding something that looked like a large steel cylindrical flask, indented at the middle. There was the occasional flicker of lights, as if it was trying to communicate the fact that it was operational, except it wasn't. The girl – at least he was assuming it was a girl, she was wearing a dark headscarf and loosely fitting dress of some sort – was softly trying to explain something to the tired looking Dwarven Artificer with an elaborately braided beard, wearing his night clothes and a pair of spectacles that could presumably analyse the internals of the mysterious object.

"Ah, yes. Nada, you're good with strange people, aren't you?"

"Why yes, my dear Fogel." she said sweetly, apparently being familiar with this fellow. "I've bedded a few, even. What is the problem here?"

"This young girl was banging on my shop door when I was trying to have a nice night in. Said it was an emergency." explained Fogel.

"To be fair; wouldn't the noise of the Festival have disrupted you anyway?" suggested Nada.

"Well, see, I have the shop warded against excessive noise. Coming in or out. Unless someone were to do something such as, directly bang on it."

"What seems to be the problem, young miss?" said Alexander, who'd somehow found his way over the counter, his arm stretched over it, trying to get a look at the girl's face.

"I-I need this working... it was supposed to work... but it got... damaged..."  
"Hmm. Do you know what this is, my good sir?" said Alexander, poking the device nonchalantly.

"From what I can tell... it looks like Netherese tech. I've seen Mythallar engines with similar signatures. But I'm not sure it is Netherese. It could be the result of one of those rare moments of brilliance the Tinker Gnomes have in combining and refining existing tech into something more efficient."

"A worthy assessment. It is indeed similar to such an engine. This is … it's something like a Helm. A small, self contained Helm." said the man who was currently disguised as a perfectly ordinary human trader-cum-adventurer.

"Oh! Really. So it is. That would explain the similar energy signature. It's possibly a hybrid of sorts, also. How fascinating."

"This one is very special... it draws it's magic from another realm. This is not decided for traversing normal space. Used in a certain way, it could even travel through that realm entirely. Or realms. In particular, the Far Realms. Young lady, where did you get this?"

"Shit. You made this, didn't you? Or worked on it. Or gave your notes to someone." said Chiemi.

"This is like one of your music boxes, isn't it?"

"I did not make this. But someone, most likely, combined my ideas with theirs. Not quite one of my Boxes, not quite a Helm. Or a Mythallar. This is dangerous. Far too dangerous to exist."

"It happens. Every now and again some poor fool come up with a new dangerous way for traversing the cosmos, and blows himself across the surface of a Crystal Sphere."

"I won't have such an incident be in my name, if I can avoid it. Where did you get this, girl? Did you use it? Can you hear the music?"

"I... I... I have to go!"

The girl grabbed the Helm and ran out the door. In her flurry, her loosely tied headscarf came off, revealing long, dark hair in tight curls, and a startled face as she looked back into the shop.

"It's... it's her! That's the slave girl!" spoke a startled Nada.

"Wait, that's the girl we saw earlier!" said Chiemi, flinging into action. "The one _you hit._ " she added, disappearing in a poof of violet smoke.

"You did _what?_ "

Alexander slammed his fist onto his hand. "Ahh, now I see. She was tunnelling in from the Far Realms, which is why we didn't see her. We must have hit a weak point and shunted her out prematurely. You see, I shielded the Mosquito against attacks from the Far realms sommm - " hand placed over his mouth, he was grabbed by a pair of sinewy brown arms and pulled outside the door, leaving Fogel on his own to make sense of what just happened.

"Hmmm. That was Alexander Sondheim, wasn't it?" he said, picking up a sending stone. He rubbed his hand on it until it was configured to contact someone called _Tailor._ "I believe I ran into that girl you were looking for. And you wouldn't believe who she was with..."  
Out on the street, Nada was desperately scrambling through the chaotic streets, trying to keep the slave girl in her sights. Alexander found himself running with her – trailing behind somewhat – and Chiemi, that accursed girl was nowhere to be found. She spent most of her time complaining, and then when she can be of some use, she disappears, he thought as he came into the boisterous bizaar known simply as the Great Market. Nada narrowly avoided crashing into a pile of Shou Lanterns, glowing a silvery blue with snowflake patterns etched on the paper exteriors. It looked like the locals were celebrating their own equivalent to the Midwinter festival – given the Rock was largely populated by immigrants of Toril, there were lots of random celebrations roughly coordinated with their terrestrial equivalents.

The slave girl bumped into a Juggler, knocking him sideways into a meat-on-a-stick stall. Alexander removed a small stone from one of his pockets, where he kept various alchemical knick-knacks. It had an azure sheen; and a swirling pattern of stars suspended within. Placing it between finger and thumb; he flicked it forwards, and he blinked out of existence. The stone bounced a long the damp cobblestones as if skimming on water, eventually exploding into a tiny cloud nebula next to the puppeteer's caravan, just in front of Nada – from which Alexander emerged once more.

"You're fast! You didn't look fast."

"Ah, I used a _skipping stone,_ my dear. Handy for cutting through crowds. Just have to be careful not to um, cut into them..."

"Keep up! Help me save the girl, I help you out with supplies and safe passage. Remember?"

"Originally the deal was I entertain you, but if this is what it takes..."

Behind Alexander, there was shouting coming from several fierce looking mercenaries of various races – Angelstar mercs, possibly; followed a procession of pattering feet. There were oddly shaped creatures following them; spider-like legs, long necks, small, glistening eyes...

"Neogi! You didn't tell me the slavers were Neogi!"

"You never asked. Is it important? Slavers are slavers. If it makes you feel better, there are human slavers after her too. _Bitter_ rivals, those two. Oh, and the Netherese have a thing for her."

"Put the fear of P'kk into those humans! Don't let them get the girl! Let us put an end to this rivalry!" screeched an important looking Neogi, with a particularly furry rump.

"They think we're the human slavers!"

"Oops." offered Nada, skipping over a bucket of fish. "You know if the Neogi bothered to hire Mercs instead of just enslaving some, they must be desperate."

"I don't see them with any slaves..." remarked Alexander, looking back. Soon after he spoke these words; a bloated skiff flew over head dropping a mace wielding Goliath, a Tiefling, and a huge, grizzled Umber Hulk; which came crashing down on top of a small Halfling caravan. It was easily one of the most impressive Umber Hulks he had ever seen. These Neogi must be high ranking... whatever they have in Neogi society, for them to have enslaved such a beast. Worse, it looked like it had been... _enhanced._ It's eyes were swirling and silver veins ran down it's limbs.

"This is really getting out of hand! I was trying to keep a low profile!" Alexander shouted, as choruses of shouting and screaming saw the festival goers fleeing the area in terror.  
"Well, sucks to be you. Dodge right!" commanded Nada, as the Umber Hulk's huge, reinforced golden fist came thundering down next to Alexander. Nada cartwheeled in the other direction; reached into two holsters she kept either side of her, and drew out two flintlock pistols. She fired each in quick succession at the Tiefling, who was lunging forward with a jagged spear. He groaned in pain as the small lead-like balls seemed to burn right through his armour. The Goliath, pushing the Tiefling aside into a fleeing Bard's side, swung her huge mace at the two humans. The Mace failed to hit; clonking onto the ground, but as soon as it made the impact, it shot out several spikes; nicking both Alexander and Nada on their arms and legs.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Alexander, who hadn't actually been physically hurt in several days now. Nada hissed, and went to reload her pistols, while keeping a wide berth of the Umberhulk. Alexander was not precisely equipped for a fight; but had his means. From the belt on his back, he pulled out a long, wooden box, that unfolded into a complicated looking hand mounted repeating crossbow. He jumped over a stone bench, and crouched behind it, facing one of the Mercenaries – a Dwarf, that had caught up with him. He pulled a trigger, and a stream of repeating arrows emerged from the Crossbow, slowing the Dwarf's approach. The arrows seemed to be literally sapping his speed.

Alexander pulled another object from his crossbow; a small wand that emitted a soft _hum,_ adorned with a deep blue crystal. He flicked his wrist; and sparks showered himself and Nada; channeling their way into their weapons. Nada had reloaded her pistols; and opened fire on the Umber Hulk she had been successfully evading. Her bullets exploded; ravaging through the outer layer Umber Hulk's exoskeleton. The Tiefling rose from the shadows beside her; she dismissed her with a drawn and thrown in one smooth motion, catching the Tiefling slave in the shoulder. She toppled backwards, unconscious from a knock on the head by an Iron barrel on the way down.

Alexander was faced with the scuttering presence of the Neogi; one a Wizard wielding an unsightly staff, which shot out a stream of silver lightning. Alexander caught the edge of the blast, his body spasming as the electrical current zapped through his body. He drew from a pouch two tiny vials; smashing one near his feet, and one near Nada's.

"Do you have one for me, too?" asked a familiar voice, who appeared crouching on top of a table. It was Chiemi.

"I thought you ran off on me. Wouldn't be the first time, and wouldn't have blamed you." Alexander said, as he tossed her a vial. Her outline shimmered as the flask collapsed next to her; a small mist emerging and being drawn into her body, making her feel more hardy, emboldened.

"A couple of the Mercs have grabbed the girl. I was keeping them busy from the shadows. Now I'm keeping them busy from here." she intoned, as she flung several daggers; which transposed into positions around the mercenaries; piercing them from different angles, before reappearing in her hands(thanks to the wonder of her teleportation magic). Both of the Mercs – humans, fell to the ground. "You're welcome."

Nada led the Umber Hulk onto the main stage, which several minutes ago played host to some strange drag interpretation of Auril's tale that she would never have approved of. It was made of some dense wood, from some heavily forested world or another, and seemed to support it's weight as it clambered up the stairs, to a large balcony above. Freed up from dealing with the Mercs; Chiemi teleported next to the stage; and began dashing around the base of the stairs; touching the looser of the supports; one by one zapping them from their previous location; to the empty space next to her. As the Umber Hulk closed in on Nada – the wooden structure began to shake. Something snapped, then everything fell apart, the Umber Hulk falling several meters down into the thick wooden stage; smashing through it.  
Nada skipped off the last the upper balcony that was left standing; grabbing onto a rope used for dropping props in and out of place. She swung around, and took out a pair of daggers; lunging down from a height onto the Umber Hulk; who was slowly rising, full of splinters, from the base of the stage. Each dagger found a weak entry between the thicker parts of it's hide; a mild acidic poison seeping through, weakening the creature.

Down by the unconscious(or possibly slain) bodies of the two Mercenaries, the girl looked on. Her eyes were not filled with fear, or awe, though there were traces of such. Mostly there was a look of familiarity, an unfortunate look of _I've been here before._ _This is nothing new._ Alexander caught the girls eyes as he swung around; twirling away from the Neogi wizard's fireball. Her mouth opened, as if to say something, and hung there. She'd found a sword – taken from one of the Mercs no doubt – and looked like she knew how to use it. She looked like she could slay a small army if she tried hard enough. But there was a look of futility in her eyes. Something he'd seen before.

The Wizard and his two companions closed in on Alexander; backing him up against the corner of the stage, and the Umber Hulk - trying to find his balance on the broken pieces of wood. Alexander waved his wand once more; and an owl-like construct materialised in the air before him to the tune of a soft chiming melody; assembling piece by piece in a rapid fashion. It pecked at the eyes of the Neogi wizard, distracting it. The girl in the corner seemed fascinated by the Owl, by Alexander. Every time Alexander used something, or hummed along to an imagined soundtrack for the battle(he did this a lot), he seemed to hum along with him. What was with her?

Nada and Chiemi were busy taking on the Umber Hulk. Chiemi was leaping and twirling in the air; launching herself off the portions of the stage that weren't entirely collapsed; teleporting chunks of wood into exposed areas of the hide. Nada had run out of the special balls she used; and just appeared to be firing the Pistols as normal, which were of course enchanted in such a manner that they produced projectiles regardless, as she ran over her next plan of attack.

"You brute! Do not bother with those women. The girl, she is focused on this one. Look at how she stares at him! The apparently perfectly ordinary trader human, with somewhat of an adventurer flair. We have him cornered! Squash him!"

The Umber Hulk, conditioned by it's horrible handling as a slave, knew better than to disobey it's Masters. It turned away from the rogues, and faced the ageing Artificer dead on. Alexander faced the Umber Hulk; then glanced back at the Neogi, then began to ready his crossbow, when...

"No! Enough. You will not hurt these people. You will never hurt anyone again."

Her words were not soft like earlier; they bellowed. In front of her; around her – an image of a great, unknowable beast, with a thick, fearsome skull and spiked tentacles manifested. It was a translucent terracotta; and it enveloped her. It pushed forward as he proceeded to walk towards the Neogi, the Umber Hulk. It swallowed Alexander; and Chiemi, and Nada felt drawn to it. The Umber Hulk bashed away at the psionic projection; making little cracks in it, but never quite enough. One of the tentacles grabbed the girl's sword, and slashed at the Umber Hulk's neck with unyielding might. The the two Neogi accompanying the Wizard seemed to implement some form of psionics; forming blades with their minds, stabbing away at the projection, but to no avail.

"Fall back! She's too dangerous when she's like this... they're all too dangerous... and if we break through we risk damaging the goods..."

The girl stared at them from behind her red veil.

"They won't stay by you. You'll be on your own again. And then you'll be ours."

They signalled; and a half minute later the skiff came to pick up the Neogi(the battered Slaves left behind, of course), and they disappeared back to their Mothership.

"I am _Raia._ " spoke the girl. "I am sorry for running from you. Nada, I am sorry. When I saw you with the other humans... the disguised ones... I worried you'd joined the human slavers. They were dressed much like that. You were always kind to me... but others were 'kind' to me to earn my trust... I'm sorry I doubted you. I missed you. I missed our time together. You were like family."

"I'm not human. Well, not exactly. Just for the sake of accuracy." chimed Chiemi.

"I am sorry I let myself get captured... again. I'm not a child anymore. I will fight. I am a powerful creature. I understand this now."

"Oh, Raia." Nada's sudden outpouring of affection was at once touching and alarming. She took the girl in her arms and cried. "You shouldn't have to fight. Come on our ship. We'll sail to the far reaches of the universe if we have to... I'll protect you, beta."

The projection fizzled out of existence.

"No."

"No!?"

"I'm sorry. But I will go with this man. He can protect me. I know this. He has a ship. A large one."

"Chutiya... what did you do to her?"

"Nothing. I don't know. She just seemed to stare at me a lot. She looked sad. I think I smiled back? I mean, maybe my charms really _are_ just that good..." Alexander said, scratching the back of his head with a cheesy grin. "Anyway, it seems you two have some weird history that I really don't get, and frankly I'm not entirely I want to bother hearing out right now."

"Ass." remarked Chiemi.

"So maybe we could... rock paper scissors or something?" Alexander mused. "Oh, even better. Rock paper scissors wizard clock. Just to warn you – I usually pick clock."

Nada sunk her head and balled her fists. "No. No, no, no. Shit." she punched on a semi-collapsed nearby stall. "What I told you about my family, it wasn't quite true, yeah? I got lost. I got separated from my family. I don't know where they are. They're probably dead. I got mad at them, I ran off, got picked up by that ship. That bit was true. Huge event – a spelljamming vessel in Chavyondat! I was a young budding adventurer, how could I not take a closer look? Shame they had no problem kidnapping girls and making them clean their shit for the next 2 years." she sighed and leaned against the counter of the stall. "It's been so long now... I first ran into her a few years back, when we were raiding a Neogi slaver vessel. She's like... I don't know, my little sister. Family. And I keep losing her. Please don't take her away from me. There aren't many people strong enough to keep up with me out here I care about. Please. She's my only family."

"I... wow. I don't know what to say to that. It resonates with my own history, sure enough. But it's still her choice. Otherwise, what's the point?"  
"Well, thank the Eight Million you have some sense in there..." remarked Chiemi.

"I'm sorry Nada! I don't want to make you cry. I want everyone to be happy. Together. There's a simple solution, though, so don't worry! You just need to come with us!"

Nada cackled. "You've got to be kidding me! I'm a pirate captain."

"With no ship."

" _Between_ ships. Temporarily. I'm one of the toughest out there, how long do you think that's going to be for? Hmm? Not only that, if I play my cards right, I'll get my old ship back. And better than ever. Just you see."

"I'm... sorry Nada. I'm glad we could meet again. And I am sure that even seeing me now calms some turbulent corner of your heart. I cannot do more for you. I must go. I have seen his mind. His ship is... uncalibrated, to put it finely, but when finished... he can protect me, Nada. He can protect _us._ I can fight, but you don't need to. Not anymore. You've been fighting so long..."

Nada spat on the ground next to her, and hung her head to one sided, her dark wavy hair, not entirely unlike Raia's, falling down her shoulder. "And I'll keep fighting until I'm dead. It's the only life I know now. Fine. This is pointless. I don't know what you've done to charm her, Alexander Sondheim. But I won't forget you. You took my only family from me."

"I'm sorry. I truly am. She is right though, she needs more protection than you can currently offer."

"Hmmph. Just you wait and see, Alexander Sondheim. We _will_ meet again. Good luck leaving without a fuss - without my help." she gestured to one of her men, who'd been busy looting some slavers in the fracas. "Come on Adder, let's go."

"Don't worry captain. I'm sure she'll be back with us soon. I've been saving a good bottle of whiskey for yet to drown your sorrows." and then they disappeared into the night.

"Well, what are going to do now? You got another crew member, just like you wanted. You just had to ruin some poor privateer's heart to do so."

"I am used to breaking hearts... this is not so strange to me. I know someone here, now I think of it... a friend of the family, you might say. She will help us."

Nobody seemed to be particularly willing to bother the three adventurers who took down a jacked up Umber Hulk and high tier Neogi slavers. There were a few shouts of celebration form behind various buildings, but everyone kept their distance. Alexander trotted on towards High City. The buildings quickly became more refined; resembling a mix of fine Kara-Tur and Cormyrian Noble architecture. There wasn't long left – he realised checking his watch – but this wouldn't be a problem. He approached a tall, almost threatening looking mansion towards the edge of the Rock. This clearly belonged to a fairly important family, and was likely not their only residence on the Rock. Alexander knocked on the door. A servant did not answer, but the Lady of the House, who had at once a sense of fierceness and the refined of her. She wore a large hat and leather gloves.

Alexander tipped her hat. "Lady Sanguinea. I thought you would still be at the festival in Neverwinter."

Sanguinea Ruldegost smirked. "I'm a busy woman, Mr. Sondheim. I skip back on forth a lot. And oh my, it has been some time. Some time indeed. Do come in, and either put that hat back on or change out of those unsightly clothes. This isn't a musket factory, dear."

Somehow, Alexander, Chiemi and Raia made it back to the ship just before the ship's cloaking device burnt out. And it did burn out, quite ceremoniously.

"176 was very quick with that staff you gave her. The Icy Rays one? The special Icy Rays that's actually useful for putting out fires. Yes. 176 is a bit of a hero. Did I ever mention how much I like 176? She is so perfectly formed. Can we give her a proper name. Like... 'Michelle'. That's good."

"... did your systems become corrupted again? Or are you trying to mock me?"

"Maybe. Could be. A lot happened since you've been gone. A lot has _chang-_ ow." Alexander kicked the underside of one of his consoles. "Sorry about that. I think that jigged something back into place. The whole place shook when that Mythal went kablooey."

"So... should it reconstitute and when?"

"It'll probably take longer than projected now. It's not destroyed but... we should probably look into the other cloaking device. The one with the big metal ball. You'll probably get that up and running before the Mythal rebuilds itself."

"Ah, that thing. We're not even sure it'll work. It's highly experimental. Honestly, it could be incredibly dangerous. I'll get working on it right away!"

Alexander felt an arm touch his own. A soft hand wrapped around it. Raia had somehow snuck up on him.

"Ah! It's bad enough having that Ninja around... now you... I mean no offence. You are extremely attractive. You're BOTH very attractive. But still..."

"I want to hear you play."

"Play what, exactly?"

"Anything." she giggled. "You seem like a man of music. When you were fighting... you made the most wonderful sounds. They sounded... _right_ to me. Healing, almost." she expressed, placing her hands over her heart. "Will you? Now?" the at once serene and intense Mul girl stared up at him with her big brown eyes, like the chestnuts he used to play with as a child.

"Very well. Scruff-2, fetch me a flute. I'm in a _flutey_ mood today."

"Ding." said the construct, and what resembles what we'd call on this earth a Jazz Flute was produced from seemingly nowhere.

"Lovely flute, is this one. They were a pair, actually – I gave one to Alstromeria. Her other daughter ended up with it. Anyway... here's an old tune my Grandfather used to play... normally played on a Fiddle, but hey, I'm all about mixing things up!"

And so he played. And it was a beautiful tune – it was an old tune, and it spoke of a history travelled on the road. But it was a new tune – with improvisation and a patchwork of new composition, and other songs composed expressly for the instrument. It swung from soft and sombre to lively and lusciously composed – each note twirling into the next; dancing a ballet only with sound.

"Beautiful... yes... I am sure of it. You are P'tah?"

"I am... is that an insult? P'tah? You P'tah! P'tah you? What the P'tah are you doing here? It sounds like Scro... oh wait yes. No, no. Mulhorandi God... of, let me remember." he said closing one eye and tapping the flute against his head.

"He is the Supreme Artisan! The creator... the father of my people, perhaps of all of us. Arts, crafts... metalwork, inspiration... travellers... I can see these domains in you. You are... no, not just a _child_ of Ptah. You embody him. You embody creation, supreme craft. When I saw your owl... when I saw that flute... my people _love_ music too. It's how we communicate."

"Ptah is not a god of music to my knowledge... and if anything, I'm more in with Gond, not that I have much truck with gods. Who _are_ your people, exactly?"

"We are children of Ptah of course... and you... there is so much of him in you. And you are _beautiful._ " She lightly touched Alexander's cheek as she spoke this.

"You better not take advantage of this." said Chiemi, who was sitting at a chair opposite him, working on some ninja magic scroll.

"She is a confused child. Of course not."

"I am not a child. I am mature. Perhaps still young but... mature. I will bare all for you." she said, beginning to undo her silken robe.

"NO. Don't do that. Really bad idea. Don't make me teleport the both of you into space."

"I give myself to you... my..." and then she only spoke in a whistle. Her body seemed to melt, splurge, and reform as something entirely different. Her body extended into something long, and bullet-like, with three.. fangs? or arms? on the front? or back? like a bizarre deep sea creature, or something from the far realms. It's skin was a fleshy peach, and pulsated in an unsettling fashion. Alexander froze in place, as he watched the creature stretch out several tendrils, or tentacles to turn itself upright, then two further extrusions which continually moved, flowed like grass in the wind.

"Holy... what? What the hell IS that thing!? Oh please tell me this is too 'exotic' even for you."

Alexander was mostly unfazed by this transformation(given his daughter had a habit of turning into all manner of bizarre creatures), but part of him was in awe.

"She's a person Chiemi, not an it. So this is the real you... wondrous. I've heard of such a creature. You are a Star Selkie, are you not? On top of whatever... psionic powers you may have?"

Raia whistled.

"I'm glad you shared this with me. Don't feel you need to present as human when you're around me. You can let go whenever you want. There are no freaks here. Or if there are, they're celebrated."

The creature seemed to... nod, and the strange mouths at the end of it's tentacles almost smiled. It then splurged back into a human-ish looking Mul girl. "Thank you. But I like this form better. Most of the time." And so Raia joined the crew.

* * *

 _Interlude #2_

 _Red World_

* * *

"Right, work is going well on integrating the planeshifting Helm into our systems. But, I really would appreciate you telling me where you managed to pick it up." said Alexander, who promptly resumed rooting around in his toolbox in the room beneath the floor

"I stole it. I was... enslaved on some Asteroid colony the Neogi had set up, on one of the inner planets in Toril. We are innate spelljammers, but they suppressed my natural abilities. It was horrible, like having a limb strapped down. There was a bracelet around one of my tentacles – my arm when I shapeshifted, that locked me down. If I tried to remove it, it would zap me and alert the whole colony. And on top of that they had this... this construct. Not like yours. I can see... something behind their eyes. This had a deep darkness. Brutal, near-immune to my powers. Must have been made of the same material. It would... hurt me. If I tried anything."

"I am sorry."

"I heard they were keeping an experimental device they could use to take shortcuts through space, and nobody would see them coming. When I saw that, I knew I had to steal it."

"And it took you to the Rock of Bral?"

"Yes. The bracelet was overloaded by... I can't even describe what I saw. It was like looking at my own innards being extended for eternity, laced with some sort of luminous... I do not even have the words. My psy shield protected me from what I felt to be most perilous and maddening. I was able to come out where I wanted."

"Do not do this again. Why the Rock of Bral?" Alexander said, with some strain in his voice as he attempted to open a particularly stuck valve with his trusty wrench, and was too embarrassed to get someone stronger than him to do so.

"I had a friend there. Nada knew this, so I thought she might look for me there too. She was... a shapechanger like me, but stuck in her shape. She said her name was Deja. She was an Aranea, I believe. Sweet-hearted thing. I wonder if she even remembers me. The only friends she made tended to be those passing through. Poor thing. She guided me around the Rock and helped sheltered me on one of my escapes. She knew all the good hiding places."

"That name sounds amazingly familiar, hmm. Could have sworn I met a Calishite girl with that name not that long ago. Yes, it may have been her. I think they said she came from the Rock. Funny how the threads of Fate seem to tie us all together. Friend of my daughters. Sweet but with a bit of a mischievous side. Much like myself." he chuckled. "We can't really... go back there now, though, I'm afraid..." Alexander sighed and for a brief moment lamented being separated from what was left of his family.

"That is most unfortunate... I would love to meet your family. Speaking of Aranea, in my time since that occasion I learned of a planetoid that had a prominent Aranea population. With a minor adjustment in our trajectory, we should be able to pass by there without too much of a delay. " _  
_A few hours later, the Star King had edged it's way into the orbit of the red planetoid, near one of it's two moons. The planet's surface was a dusty red ochre, covered in enormous, swirling storms. It didn't really look like a habitable world, except near the poles that seemed to have not been yet been consumed by the raging calamity.

"W-what happened here?" said Raia, staring startled at the looking glass. "I passed here once when I was younger... it did not quite look the way it does now... I get a sense of dread just looking at it, even through this... arcane window."

Raia had proven quite useful in fleshing out the crew's knowledge of spelljamming, especially Realmspace. Her knowledge was coming from a different place than the Netherese spelljamming tomes, of course, often speaking from personal experience as much as anything. Unfortunately, having been largely out of the loop for a few years meant she was at a loss as to explain this.

"Hmm."Alexander put an eye to a special, magically filtered viewing scope, twisted some knobs and wrote down some numbers with his everlasting quill on the parchment nearby. "Something seems to have majorly upset set ecosystem of the planet. I'm not even sure that storm is magical in nature, at least directly."

"George, are you picking up any life signs?"

"Yes. Quite a few, at least from the surface. If any have retreated underground, my sensors can't breach both the storm and that. Mostly gathered towards the north pole. A few potential refuges in the stormy parts, though not clear and ambiguous. Doubt they'll last long anyhow. Strong mix of races. Definitely Aranea... Thri-keen... Very few humans... well, unmodified humans. Various modified humans of different origin, probably mostly Calishite and Zakharan, Maztican… not that you could tell since they're nearly all different colours. Seriously, look at these guys, it's like a promotional stunt by some paint manufacturers, or some whacky modern dance troupe."

The Star King's long range telescope focused in on some of the Refugees towards the north, showing fuzzy images of rainbow hued humanoids.

"Hmm, I sure hope there are some eligible maidens amongst them. I've always wanted to..."

"Bro don't do it."

"Taste the rainbow."

"Oh my Ptah." 

* * *

_Recruitment Log #3 – Lunt & friends_

 _Every good ship needs a doctor. I suppose. Artificers are more important though. I mean, what good's a doctor if all your cooling fluid leaks out? I am not biased because I am a construct._

 _~ George 3000_

* * *

A distress signal registered from the satellite they were nearest. It looked like a ship carrying medical supplies – perhaps all too late – had crashed there. Alexander, Raia and Chiemi took a newly repaired Mosquito craft down to the surface, being wary of any danger that may be lurking there, but eager to load up on potential crew members. The crew soon came into view, sitting around, looking bored and disconnected. They looked to be little threat. The Mosquito perched itself on a large rock overseeing the crash site, and Alexander & friends stepped out onto the stony grey surface below. The distressed ship had crashed, perhaps somewhat ironically, the middle of a small crater. A couple of worn out looking halflings and what looked to be a Giff medical officer were tending to some of injured elves and humans.

"Ah, someone answered our distress call! Brilliant." said the suddenly enthusiastic young female halfling.

"Really? You only just saw them now? Not when the craft landed? Or when that enormous, city sized ship sailed into view?"

"Unlike you, Reginald, I like to take pride in looking after others, and give them my full attention!"

"Really? You looked like you were about to fall asleep for a second, Regina."

"Brother and sister, I presume?" called Alexander, recognising familiar pattern.

"Yes." "No." "No." "Yes."

"Talk to the _Giff._ We're busy. I mean, he's busy too, but he's still the one you should be talking to."

"I've met a few Giffs in my time... they do tend to be... somewhat boorish." said Raia.

"This one's a _doctor._ He looks a bit smaller than the Giff in the pictures... but I still don't know if I'd like him sticking knives in me. Well, I don't like _most people_ sticking knives in me, that's more my job, you know? In a different context." she eyed the husky hippopotamoid man with suspicion.  
 _  
_Alexander walked forwards, down into the crater, stopping briefly to adjust his neckerchief. He approached the Giff doctor, who was rooting through a box of supplies – various implements, bandages etc. Alexander coughed, then tapped his foot. The Giff didn't respond. Alexander coughed louder. It seemed for a second the Giff's ears twirled around in response, but he did it several times further without stimulus in the proceeding minute afterwards. Finally, Alexander tapped him on the shoulder, which he seemed to feel through this thick hide.

"Oh! Goodness! Oh my. Yes. Who are you again? Have we met?"

"I'm the one who answered your distress call. So no, but we really should get acquainted."  
"Oh heavens, thank you for that. We were hoping to get some emergency medical supplies down below. Humanitarian effort, and all that. Humanitarian? Is that the right word? I'm hardly human, hoho. Common is so strange sometimes." he chuckled to himself. "Ah, my manners. I'm Doctor Lunt. These are my... assistants, Regina and Reginald. For finer work, you see, these large hands are not always the most fortuitive. Regina's expertise leans more towards the mechanical, though it comes in handy having someone who knows how to use some of these bizarre implements."

"Nice introduction. Would you like to join my crew?"

"Well – we'd like a lift off this world, certainly. If you could get some of these aid packages to the North Pole of the planet too, that would be helpful."

"Who told you to do this anyway? Is this some sort of 'Clerics without Borders' initiative? What church do you work for?"

"Oh! No church, no church. Though we do have loose ties with the good men of Ilmater, some of our funding comes from there, yes. This ship, the SS First Aid, was funded by a generous benefactor who wished to provide assistance to those in need. You see, I wasn't much good in um, Giff society but someone saw some potential here I suppose, in my doctoring capabilities. Having that Giff resilience can be a help on these sorts of missions, too. We thought we might finally have a clear shot at Maja, that dusty little red world, but it seems our information was wrong. The storm has only gotten worse. Also, we got shot down by pirates from Garden."

"Well, that explains that. Why'd they shoot you down though?" Alexander took a good look at the damaged ship. It was a modified Marlin – which resembled a large pointy wooden fish, and it looked damaged, but certainly salvageable. There was some sort of emblem that wasn't particularly easy to make out, owing to it's proximity to where a large cannonball had breached the hull.

"Oh, a couple of ships got into a fight with another pirate. We were caught in the crossfire. Terrible timing. Thing is, the other pirate didn't just leave us there. After they fended off the Garden pirate – with their odd leafy ships - the captain actually came down to greet us. Told us to stay here and someone would be here to pick us up. That they're good at that sort of thing. Sound the distress beacon, just in case."

"... did this pirate have bushy black hair, big brown eyes and a smug little grin? With a slight air of isolation around her."

"Ah yes! That was the one. Lovely lady. Are you her associate then? She said you could take our entire ship on board!" Alexander grunted. "She really seemed to stress that you her associate liked to pick people up and adopt them, so should continue to do so."

"Nada..." he said in frustration, in much the same way many a person had expressed with his own name. "Do you really want to continue on with this First Aid thing? I'm probably as rich as whoever was funding you, and I have a knack for ending up in disaster areas. So, plenty work."

"Or creating them." remarked Chiemi, from a meters behind him.

"Oh, well, to be honest, that might be a relief. We were being funded by a philanthropist fellow – Mr. Samson we call him, who operated out of um, Hevastar. And well... apparently Hevastar is not quite there anymore, and Mr. Samson has taken quite the liking to human flesh. Or so we hear."

"I see. That does sound like a problem. You are running out of funding, I imagine."  
"We get by, here and there. A couple of days ago, we met up with an impressive fellow... Tailor I believe his name was, seemed very eager to fund our operations. From your world, Sembian I seem to recall? Recommended we fly by here, actually. But absolutely, we'd love to appreciate your offer. Errr I mean, take you up on your offer. If you need medics in general, too..."

Alexander now had a chance to try out the tractor beam he'd been installing on the ship. A quick flight back to the ship saw him at the helm, pulling on various levers.

"Alright, George, let's bring it into the Cargo bay."

"You know we don't really _have_ a designated Cargo bay, just a bunch of huge, empty halls."

"Same thing. One of them should be prepped. Engaging beam now."

A gleaming golden dish emerged from the underbelly of the flying city – which was looking more and more like a proper ship. It fired rings of intense, high energy magic – some derivative of a levitate spell or the likes, perhaps – and the smaller ship began to rise towards from the surface. A few minutes later, and it was safely inside. A moment later, there was a huge fizzing sound.

"Aaaand, that's the one use we get out of the Tractor Beam this week."

Reginald and Regina quickly made their way out of the vessel, with Dr. Lunt and the rest of the crew in tow. The injured seemed particularly grateful at the prospect of having somewhere more comfortable to rest.

Dr. Lunt approached Alexander and smiled. He made a positive sounding grunt, clenched a fist, and was guided to his new lodgings by one of the constructs.

"You know, my lord, we _did_ need a doctor. I know you have some expertise in that field but still... we have our own little medical staff on hand, should we need to help anyone out..." said Raia.

"Hmph."

"Nada did you a good turn here, you know. Even if she holds a grudge. Or maybe she just wanted to keep me safe, so saw an opportunity and took it. You should thank her."

"Nope." said Alexander, and that was that.

* * *

 _Recruitment Log #4 – Unit 21A "Rod"_

 _Ah yes. I liked this guy. Much prefer him to the fleshy ones. Strong, reliable. Hand turns into an screwdriver. All great features in a prospective husband._

 _~ George 3000_

* * *

Alexander was outside of the Cathedral, somewhere deep in what used to be a Netherese flying city. It was slowly taking shape – being rebuilt as it hurtled through space – but there was still a lot of work to do. In particular, improving pipeline efficiency so the Artifacts powering the city could pump out more "juice". Netherese engineering wasn't always the most efficient, which is why they had hired him in the first place. But no way he was going to be the best Artificer he could be under those circumstances. This time, he was doing everything for himself, so not even the sky was the limit! After all, he'd left that behind _days_ ago! Some of the constructs seemed to have wizened to this fact, and seemed quite scared. They'd grown quite fond of Regina, who was helping out with tune-ups, and was mostly quite calm and predictable. But Alexander...

"Honestly, I went over all this _myself_. There's no reason for concern!"

"I believe that _is_ reason for concern. No disrespect, sir." spoke Unit 9F.

"Wait, that... that _welding_ arm. That... the output on that is immense! What are you doing with basic repairs! We could have you out there defending the ship from... hmm, we haven't run into anything yet. Which is good, good. Just what I wanted. But a little boring now I stop to think about it."

Chiemi walked into the engine room, leaning against the doorway. "I can probably take down whatever comes at us. Teleport out, hurl magic, stab, teleport back in. Stop things from clogging up the engines, streamline our efficiency. I should be honorary engine room staff for that. I mean, if it wasn't such a boring thing to be associated with."

"I'm not built for combat, sir. Well, it is true that I have basic combat routines programmed in. And intermediate combat routines. And also – yes, advanced combat routines. I'm not entirely sure how that got there. Also, before your Adventurer friends found us, we had this little underground club."

"What... a strip club... for constructs? What is there to take off? That sounds uncomfortable." mused Alexander.

"No, Construct Combat Club was for Constructs to prove their mettle against each other, in an arena of battle. The first rule of construct club is: tell everyone about Construct Club, because Construct Club is awesome. Unfortunately, we were all either immensely introverted or nervous about Fleshlings shutting us down, so we didn't really follow that rule very well. Probably why you didn't find out about it. Honestly, it got pretty boring down there sometimes, and we wanted something to do aside from building and repairing. Also, unintended side effect – it gave us more things to build and repair."

"... is this a thing that actually happened, or is this some sort of bizarre sense of humour you have evolved?"

"Who knows, sir. But there was an even stronger fighter than myself, the great Crowbar. The Legends say when we tried to reform the Club – named after the original champion, Club – he told us all we were all fools, fools the lot of us! - and retreated to somewhere deep, deep in the bowels of the city, never to be found again. And thus ended the story of the great and legendary warrior known only as... Rod."

"How is there a Legend? This place only launched 3 days ago. Are you fucking Mayflies or something?" said Chiemi.

"No, we're constructs."

"I'm unsure they can properly process similes, my dear. Perhaps in a future update." remarked Alexander. "Hmm, perhaps their chronological stabalisers are somewhat off..."

"Or maybe they're fully self aware and screwing with us."

"Perhaps, perhaps. Anyway, where might we find... this _Rod._ " 

Alexander, Chiemi and Raia trudged through a murky cavern deep in the underbelly of the city; a chunk of the structure Alexander had thought lost upon exit. Clearly the Netherese had built this city on top of a mountain with pre-existing catacombs. The constructs obviously hadn't been down this far yet; there were still things scrawled in the wall in Netherese, looking like they'd been left by some kind of rebels that disproved of the actions of the empire and the alliance with Shar. It gave Alexander an unsettling feeling – the Netherese had built a symbol of power on top of the tomb of their own dissenters. Perhaps even indentured them to work on the city. Some skeletons; still clutching to swords and shields suggested they had died rebels. Neither Alexander nor Chiemi were particularly religious, but they both had the urge to at least mutter some prayer under their breath, out of respect. Raia was very quiet, and Solemn.

"That's the thing about evil empires. Everyone focuses on defeating them, stopping their expansion – very easy to forget their own people sometimes suffer as much as anyone." spoke Chiemi. "You don't get evil empires _without_ subjugating your people, after all. An entire people don't suddenly decide to be imperialistic jerks. It's all about a few powerful men dictating everything, passing their poison onto the next generation."

"No." spoke Raia. "It's always the _others_ that have it worse. They may enslave their own people, but it's less difficult to justify their... lack of worth, if they're something very different. I mean no disrespect to them, of course. They suffered much like I did. But when we find foreign, non-human slaves in worse conditions, do not be surprised."

"I suppose... those powerful men often take advantage of the quirks of 'others', too..." said Chiemi.

"You know this from experience?" asked Alexander.

"... I may have been coerced into working for such people..." answered Chiemi.

"So was I. Let's move on before we have some unfortunate flashbacks." Alexander gestured forward with his torch.

Eventually they found an alcove. It looked like it had been previously hidden and sealed off, used as a refuge. There were crates and makeshift shelves set up along the walls, between the stalagmites. The ceiling had a dome-like shape, and was quite high, with a crystalline sheen. In the centre of the room was a mechanoid; his body cast in a silvery Mithral; with what may have been light Adamantine casing where more armouring was needed. He was quite tall, but not bulky, with a certain degree of flexibility. He was crouched in a meditative position, surrounded by candles.

"Hello. Are you... Rod?" asked Alexander.

"Yes, friend human. I am Rod."

"Friend? Hmm, you know, I built you..."

"No, you did not. But you are a friend."

"Are you sure? Because I'm sure I built you... or well, built something that built you, more like."

"Well, that's one theory. It's a good theory. Another is that I simply ran across your... followers, and made my home with them. Repaired myself with their parts, which is why you may see a resemblance. If you ask around, perhaps there are others as such."

Alexander scratched the back of his head. "Well, if I didn't make you, who did?"

"Who indeed." said Rod, as if whispering into the wind. One by one, Rod extinguished the candles. The fleshy trio got a look at his face – there was a greenish glow behind his eyes, his face permanently cast in a calm, contemplative expression.

"And you are the... fighting champion, the others spoke of?"

"Yes. I have bested many a Construct, and many humanoids, even. Do you wish for a demonstration?"

"Right, which one of you wants to fight him?"

"Why don't _you_ fight him?" rasped Chiemi.

"Not my style. Not until I have to. Besides, we'd all know I'd win."

"Chiemi's combat style may be a better match." said Raia. "And I don't think I could bear to see my Lord being injured unnecessarily. So it should be her."

"Raia, you bitch. You already saw Alexander got beat up trying to protect you. Really you're just mooching off us, aren't you?"

"Untrue. I am in need of protection. That is not 'mooching'. And while I have had some time to calm down and see him in a more... _faithful_ light, I still believe Ptah smiles favourably on our Captain." she affirmed, with a joyous grin.

"Ugh. I'm tired of being the reliable one here." Chiemi teleported two daggers from their hilts to her hands. "Let's do this, chrome boy."

"Indeed." he spoke. He put his hands together; and slowly drew them apart, sparks flying in every direction from the space in between. He seemed to be pulling a weapon out of the air – from some pocket dimension, no doubt. There was a flash, and he swung a long staff, which looked somewhat like his namesake – a road, around his head, then slammed it into the ground. It was an odd looking weapon, like it was ripped from the internals of the ship. The Rod itself looked mechanical; as it it could perhaps extend, or contained pistons for repeated impacts.

Chiemi took the slam as cue to dart forward; her daggers clashing against his tough metal staff.

5 minutes later, it looked like Rod had won the fight. Chiemi was gasping, hands on her shins. It seems like she'd been overconfident in her abilities while working on 4 hours sleep, for a start(if only she could trance like her cousins!), but Rod was clearly capable enough to have won regardless.

"I... why didn't my teleport magic work on your staff?"

"My Rod of Justice -"

"Don't call it that. It sounds weird."

"My _Staff_ of Justice – which I am not sure sounds that much better to your ears – is bound to me and warded against such magics. Maybe if you tried harder." he said, his expression clearly unchanging, but an audible sense of taunting entering his voice.

"That Piston action thumping thing it does really frickin' _hurts_ you know?"

"Yes, that is the point. Much like the point of you carrying around sharp knives, Sai, and those Shuriken which you admittedly did a good job of jamming in my various vulnerable regions. But I was too powerful."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm tired and you got some lucky, cheap shots in."

"I do not get tired. I am unsure I believe in luck. And I can assure you, I am not cheap."

"Ugh."

"That is the sting of _Justice_ you feel all over your body."

"Okay there is no way this is unintentional. And there's no way Alexander _didn't_ make you."

"Hold on, I found a dial." said Alexander, who'd somehow sneaked up on the powerful fighting robot, and removed a back panel. He turned it down. Just a _little_. And did some general fiddling.

"I am unsure that dial actually does anything. Do you really know what you're doing?"

"Hey, if I find some dials, and I'm going to twiddle them. I'm that sort of guy. I think it's something in his communication centre. He's just really prone to unintentionally making really inappropriate remarks and being generally not very self aware."

"Gee who does that sound like?"  
"Well I like him!" said Raia. "Rod, you seem like a very impassioned person. You shouldn't isolate yourself down here! Come join us on the bridge."

"Well, when you put it like that..."

And so Rod joined the crew. 

* * *

_Interval #3 – Alexander, Beneath the Waves_

* * *

The ship had been sailing for several days now. The constructs were busy as ever repairing, and the more intelligent constructs explored the innards of the city for things to do, places to carve out as home or function rooms. Upon deck, Alexander and his new crew member of questionable moral fibre stared at the viewing glass. They were approaching their first full size alien planet – Karpri. Karpri was a beautiful and lush world; covered in vast oceans with little in the way of landmass – along the equator, there was a great and improbable jungle made from, apparently, seaweed. Chiemi and Raia were staring into the large glass pane that showed them what was below. Chiemi in particular was full of thoughts.

"So, you're sort of _like_ a deep sea creature type thing. Can you actually breathe under water?"

"We don't need to breath in our spacefaring forms. I mean – we are _spacefaring._ There is not much air in space. Regardless, we get by."

"I knew that."

"Can _you_ breathe underwater?" she teased.

"No! Well, I mean, with magic. Though that's not always reliable, unless it's innate."

"How about you Rod, would you rust?" posed Raia, as the Construct walked into the room.

"Hmm. Probably not, though I've never risked it. Of course, with magic..."

"Hey, I want to know more about you, though." said Chiemi, waving towards Raia.

"When you first saw my other form, you called me a 'thing' and feigned discuss. More recently, you referred to me as a 'bitch'. Obviously, you know all you need to to form an opinion."

"Yeah, well. You know me, I get grumpy or freak out sometimes. I still haven't adapted to being away from the Feywild this long. Plus you were the first... weird thing I'd seen in a whole week."

"Ah, Fleshling females have these things called 'cycles', I have heard. No doubt being taken from your natural environment would disrupt such a -"

The two women turned around and glowered at Rod.

"I see. I believe there is a giant mutant rat problem on F deck that needs taking care of." he said, then left.

Chiemi seemed to look quite self conscious.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's just... I'm sorry I've been a little harsh on you. I'm not really here by choice, I guess you can understand that. I'm anchored here because if I wasn't I'd poof back to the Feywild after a few days... my father searched for Alexander, then I searched for him... and he's still yet to help me."

"I'm sure he's working hard on it."

Meanwhile, Alexander was up using the scopes to observe the planet directly, mostly oblivious to the conversation below.

"We'll be entering orbit in a few minutes. Let everyone below know. Anyone up for some Deep Sea exploration? Finally, an excuse to use my Apparatus of Khalish!"

"And probably the last you'll see for some time. They're not renowned for their flexibility of use. I mean, they're pretty situational. And ridiculous looking." said George.

"Sounds like exactly my Lord's sort of thing."

"Can you stop calling me your 'Lord' when you're obviously taking a sarcastic dig at me? It confuses my Ego. Especially when I know you do actually have some weird attachment to me. You're horribly confusing." Alexander shouted down to Raia.

"How... how cruel. I was just engaging in banter..."

"Don't mind him, Raia. All his brainpower's going into geeking over the toys he gets to use right now, so his social skills aren't quite present." Chiemi put her arms around her in a show of solidarity.

"What are you two talking about down there?"

"Making out."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

A half hour or so later Alexander, Chiemi, Raia and Rod had gathered in a run down old loading bay where the Apparatus of Kwalish was stored. The constructs had managed to scrub off any trace of Netherese symbols off it, but had not managed to reconfigure it in such a manage that it made any rational sense to look at. While there were a couple of average sized devices in the bay, this one was much larger than the average, appearing to somewhat comfortable fit 4 people, and perhaps a small amount of cargo, as opposed to squeezing 2 people uncomfortably.

"I don't understand what it is. It's a... lobster?" asked Rod.

"A _mechanical_ lobster, evidently. Perhaps you can feast on it's innards, being mechanical yourself." jested Chiemi.

"Really? I have heard of humans who consume organic lobsters. So it would seem logical that a mechanical humanoid could extract some sort of beneficial components from a mechanical lobster. Assuming, of course, it was constructed to be such an equivalent."

"Well, that just extracted any trace of life from my joke."

"It _was_ a pretty bad joke, friend Chiemi." commented Raia.

"Shut up! Anyway, you look more like seafood than it does."

"Stop arguing girls! This apparatus is not here to divide us. But to bring us _together_." said Alexander, squatting slightly as he motioned his arms inwards. "In a wonderful quest into the great deep! Uncharted territories! Well, to most people anyway. Where's your scientific curiosity? Sense of wonder and admiration for the unknown?"

"I left it in my other cuisses." said Chiemi.

"You're not even wearing armour." replied Rod.

"Exactly."

"You know, those tights do not look like they would provide much protection combating monsters of the deep. My body is relatively sturdy, perhaps I could cover them -" Rod extracted what looked like two spare pair of hands from his back, and began adjusting them and sizing them up.

"No! I have some leathery stuff I can wear for fighting, ok? Plus I'm sort of Fae, and we're all about illusion and whatever. Just because I look unguarded doesn't mean I am. Gods, you wouldn't last 2 days in the Feywild."

"I'm not as literal minded as I seem. I'm just having trouble calibrating my responses. No need to be so harsh."

"See look Chiemi? You hurt his feelings." said Alexander, tapping his foot. "Now get in the big metal lobster, everyone. We've got science to do." 

The Aparatus was dropped from the Bay, and made it's descent down to the watery world below. It was modified to be equipped with powerful thrusters, to help manoeuvrability and for the return voyage back to the ship. Alexander carefully nudged the craft about to get the most efficient angle of entry.

"Couldn't we have just docked at the karpri station and made our way down that way?" asked Raia.

"No, too many eyes watching. Best not to dock at anywhere official until we get out of Realmspace. Then we should have a bit more freedom to move about."

"What exactly is the purpose of this voyage, may I enquire?" said Rod.

"Never really been to an underwater Kingdom before. Well, Lantan did try to hire me once or twice for their crazy underwater city project, but I took a wide berth of that. So it's very important I do that. And make observations on um, the local fauna. Especially the Mermaids. And um, science."

"Like fluid dynamics?" suggested Rod.

"Yes, that's a good way of putting it."

Chiemi groaned. A lantern started to blink a deep, foreboding crimson, accompanied by a horn sound.

"What's happening?" panicked Raia.

"Hmm, seems to be some sort of system failure. I'm sure I'll be able to get in order." said Alexander, as his arms were lost in a flurry of movement, alternately pressing a myriad of switches as they illuminated. "No, actually, I'm not sure I can fix this right now. It's pretty much a shot in the dark as to what happens next."

" _What?_ "

"Um, Chiemi, I don't suppose you could... teleport us to the ground?"

"There is no ground! Just water and a shit ton of giant seaweed! And I can't see outside!"

"Um, Raia, you can do that space warping thing, right? Like a Helm?"

Raia appeared to be somewhat seized up, panicking. She seemed to be somewhat claustrophobic, and this wasn't helping. Chiemi turned to her and calmed her.

"Raia, we can make it out of this. Don't worry. I'm sure this reliably reinforced vessel will hold together until we hit the surface -"

"A more apt colloqualism would be 'death trap', perhaps." interjected Rod, after some thought.

"Shut it. In case it doesn't though, we'll want to get out before hand. I can't teleport us all safely hundreds of meters down. But I can try and teleport us out of the craft, and you can... turn into your other form, and fly us down. Can you do that?"

"I don't know. I... suppose I could try. Let me..." there was a _splurge_ and Raia turned into her very alien looking Selkie form.

"You can do this. We all need to hold hands – um, appendages so I can focus. I'm going to count from, then I'm going to skip us outside. Then you need to pick us up Raia, and fly us safely downwards. Got that?"

" _I... yes, I think I do. Let's do this._ " she intoned, psionically.

"How terribly exciting!" said Alexander, rubbing his hands together.

"Of course you'd be happy about this." Chiemi sighed. "Okay. Let's link up. Now... In 5... 4... 3... 2..."

"Wait! Hold on, I think I've figured out how to -"

"No!" said Chiemi, who was already mid teleport. Alexander had thrown up his hands in exclamation, disconnecting him. A half second later, the three crew members were gone.

"Khul." said Alexander, as the ship plummeted towards the water. There was a _biff_ sound, and Chiemi teleported back in to grab him. Alexander closed his eyes, and when he re-opened him, he was outside. Chiemi had just barely judged her teleport so she was able to grab onto Raia's levitating, slowly descending form, with Alexander grabbing onto her other hand. His glove was greasy; and began to slip. The weather was harsh and stormy; Raia was having troubling coordinating and keeping everyone together.

"Raia, swing around! Quickly – no, not again!" she spoke too late, as in attempting to swing himself upwards; Alexander slipped from her hand. There was an enormous _sploosh_ of water, followed a few seconds later a smaller splash, as Alexander hit the waves head first, and sunk below.

"I'm so sorry... It was just too much for me... if we hurry down, we should be able to find him..."

"We made an almighty scene. We don't know what's below the surface, but if this area is populated chances are a crowd of angry and potentially xenophobic sea elves wielding legendary weapons."

Raia settled down atop a small seaweed forest island, part of a small Archipelago of the same. Whatever species this was; it was quite different to anything on Toril, while still being recognisable as some magical or evolutionary offshoot of it's namesake. It was like sitting atop a great tangled palm tree in a drowned forest. She shifted back into her humanoid form, took some breaths, then dived in after Alexander.

"Do you know anything about this world, Rod? Are you one of those constructs that can absorb knowledge from things? Store it on Crystals, whatever."

"I've been doing some reading if that's what you're asking. Moreso than you, it seems."

Chiemi huffed. "I've been doing my best to keep informed. Alexander has a way of putting me on edge so it's hard to focus on anything... academic."

"Well, he may well be dead now. Look at it that way."

"Then we're stranded here! Well, you are. Without the Star King's stabilisers, I'll be shunted back to Toril's Feywild. Or maybe stuck in _this_ place's Feywild. Who knows."

A few minutes later, Raia shot out from beneath the surface of the waves, which swayed in the storm. It was still hard to read her in her Selkie form, but they could tell she was concerned.

" _No sign of him... anywhere... I think I could pick up some Sea Elf activity nearby – with my psionics – but that was about it. There was something else too... big and foreboding. I could see something squirming towards me, too. I felt it would have been dangerous for me to stay any longer._ " she sighed. She shifted back into her humanoid form, and planted herself next to Chiemi.

"Anyway we could get a Message to George or Scruff-2? Technically we're only so many miles from the ship. A sending stone should work... hold on..." Chiemi shuffled around in her pouches.

"It looks like the enchantment on mine's been disrupted..." said Raia. "There's a weird crackle on it... like interference..."

"I have built in sending functions. I could erect a communication spire -"

"Please don't use that word."

"Ah well, it is actually the proper term here. If I rearrange myself – sorry – and my staff, I should be able to produce a much clearer and more coherent signal, piercing through any interference."

There was a rumbling noise from beneath the waves.

"Um Raia?"

"Yes, friend Chiemi?"

"That... thing you said you felt? Was it following you?"

"Oh dear..."

Enormous, clanking pincers burst out from the depths below.

"Is it... some kind of giant enemy crab?"

"Worse, friend Rod... it's a _Giga Lobster._ " 

Back on the ship, Dr. Lunt, Reginald and a Half Elf nurse called Jane somethingorother(nobody seemed to remember her last name, and she did tend to mumble) were busy tending to some Elven child that had inexplicably stowed on board the _First Aid._ Dr. Lunt was also entrusted with being the "senior officer" while the away team – who were also, incredibly awkwardly, the bridge crew – were, well, away. He wiped the sweat from his brow(or whatever Giff had that resembled sweat) and decided to pop up towards the main bridge, currently in the hands of George and Scruff-2.

"What's up."

"Ding."

"Is there any news on how they're getting on down there, my good fellows?"

"Nope. Not heard anything back."

"Have you done some sort of... sensor sweep, scan, or whatever to see if they've landed?"

"No. Some sort of anti-scrying scrambler burst type thing hit us a few minutes ago, blotted out my sensors. Still recalibrating. Give me a few minutes."

"... if that affected us all the way up here, then what do you suppose happened to our fellows on the shuttle, down there?"

"Oh. Ooooh. Good point, Dr. Lunt."

Dr. Lunt sighed, and got ready to prepare a rescue mission. He was lucky, despite being somewhat of an outcast in Giff society, he _was_ a pretty decent warrior, and a dab hand with a pistol. They just hadn't liked the cut of his jib. 

* * *

_Recruitment Log #5 – Meirionwyn_

 _Some elves live amongst the trees in great forests. Some live in tall towers in the clearings. Some live on the plains of Anachromé, others in wondrous cities on the Astral Plane. And some live under the sea. Why? Bugger me if I know. They're Elves, they're not supposed to make sense._

 _~ George 3000_

* * *

In the depths below... Alexander continued to sink. One particular impressive trick of his was the ability to hold his breath for exactly 11 minutes – no longer – which was admittedly likely the side effect of some experiment or another, as it's not as if he'd particularly trained it. Perhaps it hadn't even been that long, he wasn't sure. He'd hit the water at a height – in a storm – and something had just sapped away the strength from his body as he tried to swim up from the surface. There was something attached to him, some sort of small... octopus, leech like creature. Who knows. What a boring end for him, defeated by some horrid little creature and well, an enormous body of water. Well, the enormous body of water makes it sound impressive, he supposed.  
As his eyes began to close for perhaps the last time, he felt a tug on his arm. And he passed out.  
When Alexander awoke, he was not underwater. Or rather, perhaps he was, but in some sort of cave that was absent of the ocean above. He coughed and spluttered – he could have sworn he saw a small fish come out – and examined his surroundings. He was laid down in a comfortable bed. The room itself looked like the inside of a huge spiral shell, coloured a silvery lilac. It caught the light – being emanated from luminous tubes descending from the ceiling, at different angles, varying slightly in hue as he turned his head from one side to the other. There were tables, and chairs along the edge of the room, all fitting the same undersea aesthetic.

There was also one particularly comfortable, almost throne-like chair in the centre of the room, fixed on some sort of organic swivel system. It was turnt to face Alexander. Atop it sat a beautiful and regal looking Sea Elf. Her skin was a pale aqua – with more of a silvery shimmer than most, her hair curly; a mossy deep green. She wore

"Hello, human-folk. You _are_ human, aren't you? It's hard to tell sometimes, you know." she spoke with an accent reminiscent of the Ffolk of the Moonshae.

"... yes, I am human. At least mostly. I think." Alexander paused briefly, and pat himself down. "Yes. Human."

"You seem _more_ than that to me. Evolved beyond. Or perhaps self modified. Either way, there's something in you... there is a slight whiff of the Fae, but something else too..."

"A curse, perhaps. Are you this curious with all your esteemed guests?"

"Guest is putting it elegantly. You made a rather... flummoxed entrance into my Kingdom. I rescued you myself, you know."

"... is that an impressive feat for you? Or significant somehow? … sorry, I really have no idea who you are."

The Sea Elf tilted her head back. All through the conversation, her arms were wrapped around a long rod; it appeared to be a thin, elegant wizard's staff of some sort, adorned with a glistening conch shell. Her grip on it tightened.

"I am _princess_ Meirionwen of the Kingdom of Coedwig. The Forest Kingdom of Karpri. And you were all... ahhh how do you say it, pendramwnwgl! You managed to fall noggin first into a parasite infested area, what were you expecting was going to happen! You silly goose."

"Are you... angry at me? You are aware I didn't _plan_ to crash and fall to my probable doom in the ocean of some alien world? Though when you put it like that, it does sound at least a _little_ bit epic."

Meirionwen put her hands to her hips and spoke in a scolding voice. "You are a foreign invader, you know! I should have you locked up, and throw away the key. Or swallow it!"

"But then my dear... it would get stuck in your stomach." Alexander said, rising from his bed and dusting himself off.

"Oh, I'm just saying random stupid things don't-"

"When what I really wish... is to unlock your heart. Truly, being rescued by such a beautiful and wonderful princess... how could a man not fall in love?" he said. Meirionwen tensed further, and looked visibly panicked, unused to such advances.

"What!? What is this nonsense! What are you doing with those words of yours. Explain yourself immediately!"  
"Surely it's customary to at least kiss, when one is rescued by-"

"No! Not here it isn't! L-less of that now." Meirionwen took a deep breath and regained her composure. "Scoundrel!" she said whacking Alexander's hands away with her staff.

"Ow! I'm sorry. Oxygen deprivation, and all that. And maybe deprived of other things too lately. I really should start sleeping again. Seems I still need to do that." he said, scratching his chin. "It's _boring_ doing it alone, though."

"Read a book. Whistle your favourite tunes. Count seals. Practice funny voices."

Alexander chuckled, and feel backwards onto the bed. "My apologies. It was deeply disrespectful of me. I had a very different lifestyle on my world and it's been hard to adjust. Though that's still no excuse. You saved me, and for that I am eternally thankful."

"W-well then! Good. I mean, that is good. I am glad. Your apology is accepted. For now."

Alexander rubbed his eyes; and ran his hand down his face. "Okay, so as succinctly as possible, explain to me my current situation. Am I a prisoner? Why did the Princess herself personally save me? What happened to my craft?"

Meirionwen crossed her legs. "No, you're not a prisoner, love. But you landed in the middle of a conflict. Yet another reason you shouldn't just come barging into other people's planets."

"B-but Science..."

"But nothing. Your craft didn't malfunction, as you've been muttering about in your sleep. It was shot down. We've taken to using similar crafts down here, so that means we also quickly developed measures to mess around with them. They shot some sort of disruption wave out of a big magic canon. My father is a militaristic pen coc and frankly I couldn't blame him for being wary of what could have been some sort of invader. Nonetheless, I had reason to believe you could be a valuable ally."

"Really? What gave you that sort of impression?"

"Well, I know who you are for one. Or have a vague idea. Alexander Sondheim, the mad genius."

"I'd contest the 'mad' part, but the latter is quite accurate, I'd like to think."

"Ahem. Thing is, and not many people know this and it would do a lot of harm if it got out, but father has been dealing with the Netherese fleet who apparently got a hold of some of your inventions at some point. Turning them into weapons. If they weren't already, I mean."

"Well, I don't like to be stolen from. But, in their defence, I stole a whole city from them."

"Please stop joking. You didn't come down here just to explore. You came down because your ship picked up your stolen devices. Does your crew know this?"

"Well, I didn't want them to think I was some sort of an asshole who built weapons for the Netherese, so no they don't."

"Listen, I can't stay here anymore. Father wants to militarise this kingdom to the point of beyond recognition. Conquer all of Karpri. I fear he has terrible, monstrous plans for the neighbouring kingdom... I am a powerful mage, some say one of the best in my Kingdom. But even I cannot stand up to that man's ferocity. Not alone, anyway. It's not long before he'll send for me, either. I can't hide you in here much longer. You are lucky I slipped out as soon as father's war mages determined the trajectory of your craft. My magics were powerful enough to hide us from their eyes, for a while."

"Okay. Well, this is a beautiful room, but I have to get back to my people too. How do you suggest we get back to my ship?"

Meirionwen smiled. "Come with me." 

King Rhydian sat on his golden coral throne, in the centre of the huge crystal dome atop his castle. With a wave of his hand; the surface of the dome would show him various happenings within his kingdom; like a giant scrying orb. A large pool of water separated him from it's edge; where Merfolk and Sea Elven servants and informants would pop up every so often to offer him their reports. Behind him were two huge brass statues of implausible burly Sea Elven men; said to be the founders of the Kingdom. Further behind were all manner of strange Feywild plants; corals that looked like trees, and trees that looked like corals. His was the "Forest" Kingdom; where such sights were quite common(though these of course the most impressive, and luminous); and much of it resembles a sunken, underwater woods, imparted with the life energies and magic of this world's Feywild. It was also known as such due to it's close proximity to the vast Seaweed jungles that surrounded the equator of the planet, that Rhydian believed was his rightful domain.

Some interlopers had crashed on the outskirts of that Jungle; not far from the the Capital, his castle, where he now sat. Their vessel, shot down by the magics of the War Mages, had been retrieved and stored away pending reverse engineering for it's unique modifications. But they know who it belonged to. Someone had brought more of that man's creations, here. The craft itself seated 4. They had captured 3 aliens. A half elf, a human girl of Mul heritage, and a construct. One of his generals had observed them fight; they had taken on the great and fearsome Giga Lobster. The girl disappeared and reappeared through the air, stepping through reality as readily as Rhydian swam through the depths. Knife after knife she threw; hitting the creature in the vulnerable spots, between the sections of it's shell. The Mul girl; just as strange; cast forward a huge red barrier, with something that was not quite magic. It shifted into a form that almost resembled the Lobster itself; almost going toe to toe – claw to claw – holding it back; while she leapt onto it's head and stabbed it in the eye.

The construct... he was hardy. He deflected the Lobster's blows as if it were a fraction of it's size. Ultimately it was he who rammed his staff through the weakened exoskeleton between it's eyes; the thrust of which moved as if powered by a huge explosion condensed between his hands, dispatching the creature to the murky depths. But ultimately it proved little more than a distraction; as the mighty general Afon and his men bravely took the warriors from behind, and the great War Mage Dilys cast her noble and valiant sleeping spell, quickly knocking them out with minimal harm to either party. A fearsome entourage, neatly subdued. From where did they come? The Kingdom of the White Whale, again, no doubt, pulling in dangerous alien mercenaries against them... just as well he was getting ready to act against them. They could not be permitted to terrorise his people. And to think once – they had been one and the same Kingdom...

Rhydian wanted to wake them immediately; but Dilys recommended against it. Such things could harm their memories, making it more difficult to extract valuable information. It had been several hours. Instead he had focused on the craft – while his own artificers could be quite capable, he wanted to find someone who had dealt with Alexander's technology in more detail, so had gotten onto his Spelljamming department – who had hooked him up with the Netherese in the first place, and they said they'd look into getting a nearby mechanic. A rather sullen and downtrodden looking mermaid(who's name Rhydian forgets, Alison? Yes, she was an Alison) had popped up to inform him that they had received a reply not long ago, and they should be here within a matter of a couple of hours. Quite splendid, indeed. With a real expert on board helping him mass produce weapons - troop transports - there would be little to stand in his way of conquering all the territory around the equator; creating the true Forest Kingdom. And with the White Whale out of the way, of course.

"Erm, sir."

"What? What is it. Sorry, I was lost in... thoughts."

The junior looking official sighed. "It's your daughter, she's not in her room. Or anywhere in the palace. And didn't check out. She hasn't been seen for a number of hours, in fact. You _did_ have that argument with her earlier, maybe you should make sure she's not plotting a rebellion or something again."

"Hmm." said Rhydian. For all his great and grand plans for his glorious empire, his daughter's unruliness was the hardest thing to conquer. "Even she cannot stop the Moon from rising... and falling." 

Meirionwen gliding through the watery caverns underneath the Palace; illuminated by a huge spread of luminous moss, native to her home land. Behind her was Alexander, who had been magicked to undergo a partial metamorphosis; giving him gills and a slightly more fluid anatomy. Nonetheless, he still couldn't keep up with Meirionwen, for whom this was all too natural.

"Do keep up will you! Oh – right, now... there's a really strong current here that pushes you forward... oh, never mind, just grab on!" Meirionwen reached backwards and clutched onto his hand. Alexander blushed slightly. It had been a while since he'd been in a position where a strong headed woman had taken charge of him like this. Meirionwen's powerful legs batted up and down, thrusting her forwards through the tunnel. The next tunnel had an even stronger current; she motioned to Alexander to grab and hand her the staff; she slowly circled the shell-tipped rod; and the powerfully gushing jet seemed to tame itself accordingly.

"This is only the second time I've seen you use magic. I can tell you're powerful and capable – why not pull out more tricks like that?"

"It will attract the attention of my father. Besides, there are all manner of unknown magics hiding down here. It is a dangerous place, and even more dangerous to go around launching fireworks in."

"Underwater fireworks! Now THERES an idea!"

"Keep focused! Ready that gun I gave you!" she motioned to the harpoon gun she had strapped to Alexander's back. In the next room; it's use was apparent. Some sort of huge, warped Starfish was  
blocking their path.

"It used to be a pet of my Mother's... until it became changed by dark magic. Shoot it in it's eye!"

"It has an eye?" as if it heard him, a bump at the centre of the creature opened up to reveal an unsettlingly human looking eye, with a bright pink Iris. "Wahhhh!" Alexander fumbled the weapon into his hands, and clutched the trigger hard he could, pointed straight at the eye. The harpoon left a trail of sparks as it rocketed forwards; lodging itself in the centre of the Starfish. It didn't scream, but it made an unsettling wobbling sound. Then, it spawned a dozen smaller eyes, dotted along it's body. Meirionwen clicked her tongue.

"Sashelas! It didn't do _that_ before. I suppose I'll have to use a bit of magic then..." a quick blast of radiant energy and a short scuffle later, and they made their way past the sinister starfish. "This will take us right up to the dry parts of the castle, not far from where your friends are being held."

"My friends are no pushovers... you must have some fearsome Guards..."

"There is one with magic as potent as I... perhaps moreso. She caught them off guard, put them to sleep."

"What, even Rod? He's a construct. Sleeping isn't really his thing. Though he does meditate, so what do I know?"

"It's a powerful magic that latches onto sapient thoughts and burrows through one's consciousness, winding down the energies of whatever sustains it. Makes it hard to resist, though it seldom lasts for very long, and resistance builds up easily."

"You've seen a lot of it then?"

"Father had the Chief War Mage to put me to sleep when I was... overly spirited. It stopped being reliable when his Mage used it one day after the next... pinned me down to have it cast multiple times... until it took... Mother would never have seen this pass, but she... that malevolent Sorceress appeared soon after she died. Almost like she was to be my replacement mother. And at first she was... I have fond memories of being on her lap... but the darkness crept up insider her and..."

"I'm sorry. That must have been terrible."

"It was. And he realised it. He broke down, crying even when I confronted him with what was happening. But it doesn't excuse it. He must have known. Never mind that, though. Grab on, we're going up!"

Alexander grabbed onto Meirionwen's back, and they bolted towards a ferocious looking whirlpool. Alexander, no stranger to danger, decided nonetheless to close his eyes. Meirionwen let out some incomprehensible war cry – albeit quite muted, perhaps defeating the purpose – and a flurry of motion later, they were thrown out onto the floor of a room in the Palace.

"Urgh... what is the purpose of this room, exactly?" Alexander said picking himself up, looking at the stream gushing up from a basin in the floor to a hole in the ceiling. The room had several wrought iron shelves stocked with secure looking boxes.

"Oh, it's like a dumbwaiter. There's a down stream in the next room. We put things in it, and the water carries them up. Or down. Quite handy really. We rode it all the way from the bottom, the source. You're not supposed to do that. Extremely dangerous!"

"Well, thanks for telling me now."

"We survived, didn't we? Now, let's go get your friends."

"And my stuff. I have my wand on me, but not my crossbow or most of my alchemical supplies.. Actually, that's probably more important right now. I mean, if I'm to be of use to people, of course. I'm basically a somewhat rubbish wizard right now. Probably still more capable than the great majority of wizards, of course, but still, I have high standards for myself."

Meirionwen narrowed her eyes, and sighed. "Right, well, lucky you, since we're in the storage area. I believe they took the equipment from the Apparatus and stored it in this – unnn – door... well, bugger it, it's locked."

"Ah! This I can handle." Alexander held out his wand which made a low hum, then a whirring tone. There was some sort of click, and Alexander was able to push the door open.

"Aha! Science." he said tapping his temples.

"What is this science people keep talking about? I don't fully understand it. Is it like magic, but a bit more predictable and with more people standing around with spectacles taking notes about the inner workings things like rocks and walrus's bottoms?"

"Umm... let's get going?" Meirionwen stared at Alexander curiously, then made her way down a corridor and into another room. This part of the palace was more plainly decorated – by Elven standards at least – as the King never really bothered to wander these parts, and what he couldn't see was of little importance to him(given he could see most of his Kingdom at any given time, though, there was a lot of pressure on his subjects to keep things looking fancy). There was somewhat worn looking royal regalia on some of the doors; probably armories or the like. Meirionwen eventually found the door she was looking for. Alexander unlocked it. She stopped, her hand on the handle.

"You know, it does pain me to turn against my own father like this. Family is so important to we Sea Elves. It defines so much. Our families, our clan."

"Yeah, been there. Gur heritage. Though I left that behind some time ago. Not exactly by choice."

"I don't think we have Gurs here, though I've read about them. I've read a lot about Toril. I'm not sure we'd be much good to the Gurs though. Their Caravans would just sink."

"We don't all... never mind, let's get my stuff."

The room inside was largely disorganised; with various seized goods occupying the various corners of the room. Most of the gear from his vessel had been placed on the central table, still being unpacked. Alexander quickly scooped up his crossbow, kissed it, and placed it back in it's holster. His arms danced around the table as he picked up the things he thought he'd need, leaving the rest behind for a possible return journey. There was no bag of holding in sight, and he didn't want to trouble the Princess for use of hers. Besides, if he was honest, he could summon most of what he needed. He just really felt more confident with his crossbow – as masterful an Artificer as he was, combat wasn't necessarily his forte, and he felt much safer with it.

"Take the back entrance from this room. That'll take us out to the dungeon. We'll have to sneak past the guards, mind. You any good at sneaking? My cloaking spell is used up for the day. Really should have focused more on that school of magic, rebellious daughter and all."

Alexander and Meirionwen poked their heads out of the next door. Meirionwen muttered the words of some spell to herself, and held out a scroll that appeared in her hands. It seemed to show the rough positions of the guards, which appeared as blinking orange dots. As she waved her hand, more detail filled in, showing the various routes through the castle. It seemed the scroll was somehow bounded to her, and no doubt aided her in sneaking in and out of the castle many a time. The corridors between here and the dungeon were almost catacomb-like, even those who believed themselves familiar with the layout could easily get lost.

"Right, so if I'm understanding, there's a guard on the lookout over there. So, when he comes here, we want to throw him for a loop."

"How are you going to do that?"

Alexander waved his wand, twiddled a dial on his bow, and a bizarre metal box folded itself into existed in front of him. It ticked. He waved his hands in place, and the box plonked itself down in the corridor. All of a sudden, it began to fold out of itself, duplicating in a surreal fashion. Soon, the entire width and height of the corridor was masked off by the box. It sizzled; blinked and then took on the texture of the multicoloured, cobbled stone walls surrounding it. It had t he appearance of having been there for decades at the very least, almost seamlessly blending in.

"Wow. That's a pretty fancy trick. Incredibly convoluted though."

"Yep. Keep an eye out, we might need a couple more of those. They do make a bit of noise though, so we have to make sure to use them at a distance."

After two more Wall Boxes and some trotting forward and unlocking things, they'd managed to break into the dungeon. The cell where the rest of the Away Team presented itself. This was a high security Cell – while there had been a rather impressive lock leading to the general Dungeon area(that Alexander and his wand managed to click through quite easily), this one was quite strange, and heavily enchanted. Even Alexander seemed to be a little stumped.

"Well, this is _your_ dungeon, and I've been doing all the work. Have you ever let out any of your father's political prisoners before? That's what I'd do, if I was a rebellious daughter."

"Thank Rhiannon you're not! And yes... I've already figured out this lock, though father doesn't know. I'm a smart girl, I am."

It wasn't quite like anything even Alexander had seen before. There was a central shiny silver disk, and a number of smaller discs, adorned with knot and wave patterns, linked together through copper traces, arranged in a very arcane looking pattern. There was a sort of static lightning coming from them, if you got too close. And this was just the outer layer on top of a thick, Adamantine door – who knew that other mechanisms lied further within?

"It is strange though. The silver disc... it's a moon. Karpri doesn't _have_ a moon. … though, there are prophecies that involve one. Perhaps we originally came from Toril, or another world, much of our history indicates as such, but it was lost to us... we learned from enchanted Merfolk how to swim between worlds. Mother used to tell me of the tales tell of Arianrhod, a powerful Archfey... or goddess even, who draws the moon down to the surface. Father got very into that idea, lately. It is sad that we don't have a moon, but it does defeat the purpose if we just sink it into the sea!"

"Well, your father wants to conquer the surface land. I guess a Moon would come in handy, seeing as how the night sky can be pretty empty without one. Mmm, thinking about my dear Alstromeria now... a true moon maiden that one..."

Merionwen ran her webbed fingers over the door, the finger tips glowing. She pressed various panels here and there, and the circles lit up. A voice resounded. "None shall pass through these doors, lest they past the test."

"Oh, I forgot. There's probably going to be a puzzle." said Meirionwen, rolling her eyes.

"... your father keeps his biggest secret and most dangerous prisoners behind a trivia wall?"

"Well, it's _one part of it._ I did some impressive unlocking, there. I thought you'd pay more attention to what women did with their hands."

"Your name, your arms, and a wife; through these your manhood is denied to you. Through actions begetting of your title, you regain your name. Through presenting a threat worthy of seeing you armed, you regain your weapons." the constellation formed into the vague outline of a face as it bellowed these words. "But your wife cannot be from any race born of this race, or another. How will you prove yourself a man?"

"It's a bit sexist if you ask me, I mean how am I supposed to answer it? I'm not a man! Father calls this the 'riddle of the virgin', since it pertains to Arianrhod."

Alexander chuckled. "Well, I guess I should concede defeat on that one then."

"You goose. It's a retelling of the myth, since those were the curses she placed upon a son she was tricked into conceiving... in the story, he created a wife out of wood and straw. Ridiculous, if you ask me."

"Ridiculous it is. How can mere objects pass for a beloved? Surely only if they somehow made conscious could they fill such a roll. And how can man breathe life into that which was lifeless? Or construct so convincing a simulation?" the door demanded. "Show me how, and you may pass."

"Well, that's easy!" said Alexander, clapping his hands together. "With some know how, the right artefact, a kuhl-ton of magic and some _gumption,_ you can create life."

"Personally, I don't trust men with the ability to create life on their own. But that's just me. I don't trust most things, anyway." said Meirionwen, folding her arms.

"The ability of creation is a powerful gift. Only a very special sort can wield it to it's utmost. If you could truly create life, even love, where none was before – place your hand on the silver circle."

"I am most certainly special!" said Alexander, and his degloved a hand, and placed it on the door. He could feel the divine spark of inspiration flow through his body...

"Yes. You are what King Rhydion has been searching for. With your Spark, with this level of creation, we will build the machines that will drive our glorious empire. Long live the King! Long live Coedwig!"

"It's a trap! Run!" but it was too late. The door exploded into a series of blocks, and reformed itself around them, one by one. They were in a huge chamber, where the Apparatus of Kwalish had been shoved into the centre; the crew in chains by the wall.

"Good going, captain." said Chiemi.

"You're safe!" said Alexander. "Thank goodness..."

"See? My Lord has a heart after all..." said Raia, who looked all too used to being in those chains.

"I am glad you were here. They seemed very curious about the fact that I was a construct. So I told them – no, I'm not a construct. I'm in fact wearing a rather form fitting suit of magical armour that's bonded to me, keeping my awesome power under control. To remove it would cause me to erupt into fiery oblivion." commented Rod.

"... humanoids normally don't explode on their own, you know."

"Clearly, the potency of the threat overrided the instinct for rational deconstruction."

"Since you ARE a construct, couldn't you have disconnected parts of you to escape, or something?"

Rod made an even plainer face than normal. "But that would have taken me out of the role." This made Chiemi wish she could detach a hand so she could sink her face into her palm.

"Hello everyone! I'm Meirionwen! Nice to meet you all." the Sea Elf said, smiling and waving.

"I'm calling you Meiri! She looks nice, my Lord. Will you be adding her to your Harem?"

"But I don't actually -"

Meirionwen whacked Alexander with her staff. "Enough of that now! We need to think of a way out before they come to pick us up. Father is overconfident so even if we fell for his trap it doesn't necessarily mean it'll stick." 

In her youth, Regina was often teased for her plumpness. While Halflings were often a little stocky, Regina was quite round indeed, and some humans found that quite amusing, despite their own Nobles hardly being any more svelte. It wasn't just that of course – while she was quite sociable these days, she was strange and shy and avoidant, and kept to herself. At first, she started tinkering with machines in the hope she could invent something to make her look fitter, or take her somewhere far away where there were friends worth making. She soon realised the problem was less her, more them, and her focus shifted to finding or inventing something that could wreak bloody vengeance against those that had mocked her.

Regina and Dr. Lunt were now standing in front of a something that could be used for just that.  
"So why didn't he use this for the ground mission instead?"

"It's a two seater. And while it looks like it'll be much more... reliable when fully tweaked up, it hasn't been fully tweaked up. Honestly, I wonder if he even remembered he had this. Scruff-2, have you managed to make it serviceable yet?"

"Ding." came the reply.

"All-right! I guess if we take this, that just leaves poor Reginald in charge of the ship... well, and that annoying Construct... George."

"George can hear you. George is everywhere. George is the Big Brother looking over your shoulder. Or, well, the adorable little brother who likes to look out for everyone, in that endearing sort of way. But is nonetheless, everywhere."

"Shut up! Let's get going. Hopefully we can salvage something of Alexander so he can turn down your Annoying dial."

"Mind your manners, Regina. If we're going to be big damn heroes, let's not sully that with a bad attitude."

"Sorry." 

Down below, Rod had freed himself of his shackles, and Alexander's wand was hard at work removing those of the other crew members.

"It is futile." came a voice from the door. "The King and his most trusted Mage shall be here any minute. Along with the fiercest warriors in the Kingdom. Even if you break out of this room, you cannot fight your way out of this. You will bow to his demands."

"I was really hoping it wouldn't be able to talk inwards as well as outwards." said Alexander. "That's an incredibly annoying feature for a trivia wall. Also, the rebuilding itself around you so you're trapped inside thing. That too. I mean, I know I do similar things, but still. Where did your father get that thing?"

"No idea. To be honest, I suspect he's been shooting down artifact and artifice containing vessels for some time now, not to mention we have a few mythals of our own... it probably has some vengeful spirit or something in it. You, know the sort that got rejected by a princess and became eternally bitter about it."

"Hey." said the door, in it's booming voice. "That's totally not true. For the record, I mean."

"Chiemi, I don't suppose you can teleport outside now we've freed your hands?"

"Ugh, no. The Cold Iron was messing with my teleport abilities but this room is heavily warded on top of that. If I sit and meditate I might see if I can tunnel through. The Feywild is quite potent on this planet."

"Best bet is to ready ourselves for when they come, then. We shouldn't underestimate them, it seems like this whole thing was a purposeful assault. Just done in a really confusing way. They're Fae, I mean. No offence."

Preparations were made. Alexander performed some quick tweaks on Rod to get him in optimal fighting form, and set a couple of traps around the room. Chiemi sat meditating, trying to find a flaw in the security or what-not, and Rod soon joined her. Raia muttered something under her breath, looking a little out of sorts. Meirionwen briefly introduced herself to everyone. She seemed to have some basic water-crafting abilities, which could be used to help heal, on top of Alexander's own magic. She whispered something to Raia, which seemed to calm her down. Then, the door began to creak. Then it opened. There stood King Rhydion, and his men.

"Alexander Sondheim! I am a _huge_ fan of yours. Particularly your ability to create magnificent and deadly weapons." he announced, in his bellowing, kingly voice.

Dilys, the War Mage, smirked and bowed before their prisoners. "A pleasure. I hope you enjoyed your brief nap, most honoured guests. But now it's time to wake up, our Kingdom have... festivities that require us to present our honoured guests in front of our adoring subjects."

"Now, my daughter... how will I punish you this time for conspiring against me? It was a mistake allowing you to study the arcane arts... I did not foresee you becoming so wonderfully powerful and clever. You are of my blood, of course, so I should have suspected it." he jeered with an insidious, shark tooth grin.

"How about you pack up your things and leave the kingdom. I would be oh-so-sad to see my beloved father leave me."

A young soldier ran up behind Dilys and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What is it? Oh, yes. My King, it seems that those unreliable looking Artificers that answered your call have fixed up the... machine..."

"Really? That quickly?"

"It was a simple error, they said... in fact, here it comes now."

"Ah, yes! How magnificent. Do you recognise this, Alexander Sondheim? A terrifying titan of technological power... what a proud father you must be..."

The soldiers made way for the procession of the mechanical giant. It was at least 12 feet tall, barely visible through the top of the doorframe. It was slouched over somewhat – bestial looking, but clearly artificial. A chorus of clicks and whirs were distinctly audible as it touch each step. It resembled an enormous, bipedal Warforged sea monster, with a deadly, spiked tail, foot long claws, thick plated armour and eyes that glowed a sinister red. It was somewhat repitilian in appearance, though with a Bugbear-like face – and feral. There were constructs larger than this, of course – but there was something truly sinister about it. There was a sort of feral intelligence to it, but also a more sapient one.

"This... this is not my creation. At best it resembles something I created. I have made mechanoids like this... the most similar I can think of, was intended for construction. For rebuilding places decimated by the Spellplague... where did you get this?"

"A Netherese ship, we valiantly defeated after trade agreements turned sour. It was holding it, a month or so back. They had... worked on it, as have our own engineers. Did we do your creation proud?"

"That is the problem. That is why I don't like to leave my technology lying around. Even if I don't intend to make a weapon, and even if people aren't capable of truly understanding or recreating what I do – sooner or later, someone finds a new context for some component of it... something highly experimental, or versatile, turned towards ends more sinister than I could have dreamed of... There's power in what I create, and even though much of that power is tied to me, there are ideas – fragments, that others, even considerably lesser Artificers can latch onto and turn into something terrible."

There was some Mythal burning at the heart of that creature, that had become twisted by whatever what was done to it's shell.

"This. This is what you will do for me." said Rhydian, gesturing towards the steel giant.

"I will not. I do not build weapons anymore, at least outside of protecting myself and those close to me. You cannot make me do this."

"This is why he left his home, father! People wouldn't stop using and abusing him... if you're so confident in your mighty rule, why can't you achieve your goals without the help of an outsider?"

"Haha. Well, here, there are less of the people you care about, wouldn't you say? It's far away. What you do here is of less consequence. And you will be part of a great empire! We will conquer not only the oceans, but the land. These great guardians will roam the seaweed forests of the equator, surveying the seas beyond... a symbol of our dominance and mastery of Karpri."

"You're mad! It won't even support their weight... don't tell me, you have a plan to cast some catastrophic spell to strengthen the land..."

Dilys cackled. "You know me well Princess."

For one of the soldiers – one close to the King, in his personal guard, it was all too much. His hands shook holding his trident. "Long live Coedwig! Long live the White Whale! Death to those who divide us -" he said, ramming his trident into Dilys's side. She glared at him from under her purple hood, and he was frozen before her. A deep anguish and fear took root in the man's eyes, as he was helpless to defend himself.

"Well, well. I had thought you to be a traitor White Whale, but didn't want to believe it."

"It is not just those from my home that resent you! When was the last time you talked to your own people!? You are encapsulated from them here... this castle is it's own little world..." shouted the Lieutenant.

"He's right! I stand with Daryl! Our Kingdoms are better together!" said plucky native soldier Rhyfon, a recent recruit. "My wife, my children suffer under your rule. Everyone is scared. People are hiding away, making their own little communities away from your eyes. My sister lives in hiding, she is a brilliant healer, and needs -"

"Silence! Guardian, deal with these traitors. Obliterate Lieutenant Daryl."

A man as tough as Ensign Daryl was never going to be felled in one blow. But between Dilys's spells draining him, and the Guardian's vicious claws ripping through his sides, he soon dropped to a bloody heap on the ground before anyone could reach him. Chiemi flinched – her teleportation thrown off by the presence of the great construct. She seemed to curse herself for not intervening. Alexander had waved his wand at the beast, to no avail, and the soldiers had held back the advance of the others. Some of these were immensely fierce warriors, not to be trifled with. Some too were also constructs – and many of the Kingdom's people were still wary and superstitious around them.

"So, you were saying, Ensign Rhyfon? Your sister, Cati was it? I'll give you a 5 minute headstart, so you can join her in hiding." the King cackled. "Just watch out for those Clams on your swim out... they are hungry this time of year..."

Rhyfon dropped his spear and ran screaming, leaping into a nearby pool.

"Look at the Mercy I showed that young traitor! Do you not love me for it, daughter?"

Meirionwen said nothing. She was near catatonic. She had not expected him to fall this far.

Rod's eyes flashed on and off. "Artifact corruption. I can detect it. Though he was probably as you would say – a dick – to begin with, there's definitely something sinister intermingling with his life force. It's probably why we're finding it hard to, well.. move much..."

The Guardian seemed to emit an aura of dread to all those around it. It seemed almost hopeless, until suddenly -

"Um, your Highness, it's eyes are gone out." said ensign Dafina.

"Get me the Artificers at once!" demanded the King, and soon they appeared. Only, there was something very familiar about one of the Artificers.

"Che palle!" she spoke in a mock Sembian accent. "I was sure we had a-fixed her up to top specifications! What-a do you think, Chief Engineer Alfonso!"

'Alfonso' shrugged. He was a tall and strongly built fellow, with a beard. He did not seem to talk much. Like someone else, he seemed to have a suspicious snake tattoo, poorly concealed.

"They don't really seem very Sembian to me... I mean, from the few Sembians I've met." whispered Raia, with an apparently knowing smile. She seemed to lighten upon seeing the pair.

"I'm a-fraid, rather ironically, we may need the help of Signore Alexander-o!"

Alexander palmed his face.

"Proceed with caution." said the King, permitting the action. "Of course, this is exactly what he is here for. And please hurry – as it happens, we need this unit functional for the Grand Parade to celebrate the beginning of our conquest..." Doing an exaggerated, eccentric walk, Captain Gina(apparently, from the mutterings of the soldiers) made her way over to Alexander, grabbed his arm and whispered in his ear.

"You're lucky I've been tailing you, trying to make sure you don't drag Raia into messes like this. What were you thinking coming down here?"

"The ship detected my inventions. I could not leave them down here. This is what happens. Raia is a strong girl and an invaluable member of my crew. Plus I don't really have a proper tank."

Gina who was obviously actually Nada, clicked her tongue. "I didn't even have to Sabotage the thing, it was already pretty messed up after whatever their people tried to do to it – I don't know, making it work better underwater – I was only able to do a short term fix. They made such a shit of some of their gear they had to put out a call for nearby Artificers. So here we are. Asp over there's not quite on your level of course, and I'm certainly not, but I thought we could be of assistance."

Nada stopped to smile at Raia mid discussion. She seemed pre-occupied, doing that thing where she suddenly zones out for no reason.

"It is _mostly_ your creation, so this is obviously the part where you pull something clever and commandeer it to stomp all over these idiots."

"What are you discussing?" scowled Dilys. "Enough of this. We have plans."

Raia's eyes immediately met with Dilys's. There was something so very completely off about her. There was the strong smell of those who manipulate and enslave...

"Not Artifact. _It's her._ " Raia struck out an arm, pointing a finger at the War Mage. Ripples of psionic awareness were sent through the room, making Rhydion and his men take her claim seriously. "It's... some form of Doppelganger, connected to some primal dark magic."

"What! How dare you lowly prisoners level such an accusation!"

"Hey, guy, you just _murdered_ a guy in front of us. Plus, nice guy gloves were off the minute you chained us up, anyway." said Chiemi, who's skin was still a little bit red from reacting to the Cold Iron.

"C-could it be true?" whispered one of the soldiers. "No, I read about Doppelgangers once! They always have gold eyes." said another. "That's a Malaugrym." said another, but was ignored. "What if it's some kind of Super Doppelgangers!? What if it's worse than a Super Doppelganger!? What if she's a Super Dragon that BRED with a Doppelganger?"

"Enough! It's clearly that girl that is in your heads, not I! Subdue them! Bring me Alexander! I've had enough of this drivel!" said Dilys, with a disdainful bile in her voice.

Alexander's squad were quick to react. Alexander had stealthily summoned his Owl construct, which had cloaked itself and managed to retrieve their weapons. Raia wielded her Khopesh – the blade traditionally associated with her people, which crackled with her psionic energy. She did not like being held prisoner, and the idea of being paraded around as a thing even less so. Chiemi had already _poof_ ed herself to some vantage point in the chamber, and a couple of the guards fell quickly to a flurry of knives. Meirionwen, finally getting a chance to let loose; kept the troops at bay with rippling waves of force; like a violent current in the air waves. Her eyes were determined, but conflicted – this was her father, and her people, and even Dilys had once been kind to her... Rod showed no such internal conflict, and was quick in sweeping the a couple of particularly sturdy looking troops; armoured with a reinforced ochre coral, onto their feet with his staff.

Nada had tumbled out of the way of the conflict, leaving Alexander free to draw his crossbow. He aimed straight for Dilys; hoping Raia's musings to be accurate, despite evidence to the contrary. A volley of bolts surrounded her, one of which caught on her cloak. Little antennae sprung up from the grounded arrows; generating between them some sort of field intended to disrupt their actions. A flick of his wand – and a steely silver mechanoid constructed itself in front of him, being summoned as if piece of piece, and made it's way towards King Rhydion.

King Rhydion's eyes scanned the room; ignoring the construct. He drew a great lance from behind him; and threw it towards Chiemi, predicting her to be the more difficult to pin down. It warped itself around the cover she had taken behind the Apparatus, first blasting her to the ground with a blast of lighting – then positioning itself to stab her, deflected by a psionic pink-red shield that Raia had erected around her. After a few more seconds of clashing weapons and arcane explosions, the construct took it's opportunity to double punch Rhydion; who grabbed each fist with his large, webbed hands. Two of his own construct soldiers leapt to his defence, striking it with shortswords.

"Get the construct working!" he shouted towards Asp, who was nervous looking. He was trying to keep the act up, but there were two fierce looking elves with vicious wave-bladed, _Kalis-_ like bastard swords grimacing at him, as well as a fairly competent looking Merfolk artificer(piloting a small wheeled chair) who had apparently been called into assist him and check for any tricks he might pull. From behind some crates, Nada poked her out and mouthed the words _No_ and _Hold in there!_ which did not do a lot to reassure him.

"Dr. Squill!", King Rhydion shouted to the Merman Artificer, "Raise the Room!"

The Merfolk grumbled, wheeled over to a control panel(to which Asp breathed a sigh of relief). "Always sending me into the dangerous situations. Wouldn't send send his own precious Elven Artificer. Nooo, Dr. Dafydd is just too pretty."

The door locked shot; and then an additional door, and the whole chamber.

"Ah." said Meirionwen. "I probably should have explained, that father uses this chamber in particular when he's captured something he wants to display. So this entire room shoots up on top of a tower. Oh, and also it's easier to flood the room that way." as she spoke, the room rumbled, and made a grinding noise as it was raised several hundred feet up from the Dungeons, to on top of the castle. Several people were knocked asunder; Raia attempting to keep everyone safe behind one of her psionic shields. The panels of the walls began to fold downwards; revealing thick but incredibly clear glass everywhere except the centre of the floor.

"Open the windows! These creatures will not survive long properly submerged!" shouted Rhydion, kicking back Alexander's construct, knocking it to the ground.

"Wait! What... what is that?" said the ever perceptive Dilys, pointing out the top window. Something rather large was approaching them fast.

"It's... it's..." before anyone could comment; bright bolts of light rained in through the windows, targeting(mostly) the Elven warriors. There was a crackling, and something in the room seemed to be picking up an external signal.

"Take that! You waifish pretty-boy bastards! Hahaha!" the somewhat maniacal and vindictive voice of the gunner, Regina the Halfling mechanic, echoed through the chambers.

The craft looked more streamlined than the Apparatus; and would look far more in place somewhere like Eberron than anywhere in Realmspace. It had huge pistons that seemed to operate even under water; a smooth, brassy chassis and a pair of small bat-like wings.

"Prepare for incoming teleport" sounded another voice – that of Doctor Lunt. Beside Alexander appeared the good doctor. "The Doctor is in, it seems." he declared, brandishing a flintlock pistol, not unlike one of Nada's. "I'll have to warn you. I charge extra for house calls." he said, picking off a couple of particularly ballsy bowmen that tried to make a go for him.

"I like this side of you, my friend." chuckled Alexander, before hurling some sort of gravity defying flash grenade to the other side of the room.

"I have it!" yelled Dr. Squill, who had been fiddling with the back-panel of the construct, which Asp had reluctantly helped him with. "The lightning generation apparatus was feeding back into the main control crystals. It should self repair in only a few seconds. Um, your Majesty."

"Regina, can you beam me up?"

"Done." and then Alexander phased out of existence.

"Don't let that Artificer get away! We require his mad genius to win this war!" bellowed Rhydion, much to the chagrin of his own Artificer. He reached to a device on his wrist; and disappeared in a column of light, that fed itself into the Guardian. The Guardian rose from it's crouched position, it's eyes glowing now not red, but an intense light blue. It stood more upright, looking more regal. Fins sprouted from it's arms and feets, that looked to be usable as deadly blades.

The Guardian burst out of the chamber; smashing the glass to pieces. Curiously, the water seemed to be partly held back by a forcefield; but the sheer force of the impact seemed to weaken even that momentarily; resulting in a deluge in the chamber below. The two mechanical weapons now floated face to face, looming over Caer Rhydion.

"That submersible vessel will do nought against my agile yet resilient mechanised armour; the great Guardian of the Seas, my Afanc! Surrender!"

"Actually, it can easily achieve a speed of over 200 knots -" Alexander said, Regina elbowed Alexander in retaliation for the pun - "Ow. If you want to be useful dear, pull that important looking lever."

"Finally!" said Regina, beaming with glee. Alexander steered the craft around to face the ocean; and soon after the lever was pulled, it jetted off towards the surface – the Afanc trailing behind – hovering above the foamy waves, next to the great seaweed forests. Alexander flicked open a brass case in front of him, and pressed a very "do not touch" looking big red button.

"Go, Sondheim Special!"

Everything around the cockpit split apart and rearranged itself; cogwheels spinning and rotating in all sorts of improbable directions, gear trains wrenching in various components, compiling them int to a new solid whole. Where the small ship had once been, now was a huge, coppery looking Mechanoid. It bore more than a passing resemblance to a bulkier, armoured Alexander, complete with goatee. It brandished a boxy, barrel chest and a large radiant rifle in place of his crossbow. Rhydion's Afanc had emerged just in time to witness it's new form, donning a visage of disgust.

"Really? That's what you're calling it?" said Regina, to no response.  
The two huge suits of armour landed on the partly reinforced canopy – still creaking under the immense weight. Towards each other, they dashed; Alexander's Special rammed the butt of it's crossbow into the Afanc's chest, but was deflected by it's steely claws. The Afanc spun around; tail lashing into the Special's side – but Alexander parried just in time to minimise the damage. The Special opened it's hand and shot a scaled-up Magic Missile at the beastial mechanoid; before reading it's ballista-like crossbow once more. The Afanc brandished it's claws, and opened it's mouth revealing it's sinister teeth, and a frightening metallic scream. It tried to strike out at the Special, but Alexander clutched two levers; kicking the legs in the air, then flicked a switch – bolting the machine backwards with a blast of fiery energy from it's feet. With a little assistance from Regina – he took several shots with the crossbow as the Special hurtled back, landing considerable damage on the Afanc.

The Afanc launched itself into the air; pelting a hailstorm of sharp blades down over the Special, which managed to weather the storm, flying upwards to meet it's foe at eye level. Claws and fists met in a flurry of blows; the Special's foot eventually finding it's way next to the Afanc's head – in a wily manoeuvre. The foot activated it's booster, full on; knocking the steel sea-monster back and damaging it's crown. Rhydion was filled with rage. He knew that Alexander would put up a fight – why bother recruiting him if he wasn't so resourceful – but he clearly had the upper hand. Luckily, for him, this was largely a distraction.

"Dr. Dafydd, do you have a lock on the target? Good? Very well. Draw down the moon!"

Noticing something off – Alexander checked his systems, and twisted a few knobs. He noticed that some sort of signal was being sent through his mech... back to the Star King, bounced off to... somewhere else. One of Rhydion's Artificers must have figured out how to piggyback off his superior communication and sensors – no doubt there was some modified, sending stone like device attached to the one of the blades that had hit.

"What are you up to...?" Alexander decided to check in with what was happening down below. Having slipped Meiri a sending stone at the last minute. "Meiri, what's happening down there?"

"He's doing it! He's really drawing down the Moon!" he could hear the Merfolk say, visibly panicking. "So that's what that other wretch was getting ready for..." with the room now partially flooded, he had discarded the chair and was floating about, deep in thought, before abruptly making a mad dash for for one of the tunnels to escape.

"I thought this planet didn't _have_ a moon... what are they talking about?" asked Alexander,

"Wait, no... there is one thing... oh no..."

The form of Dilys rose from under the water, and stared Meiri in the eyes. "Yes. That's right. The Elven Man-o-war station. Dozens of ships from the Eleven Armada linked together in rings... easier to sink than your vessel, but still provide a mighty punch."

A vast orb sat atop a pillar; which rose from the castle until it was out of the sea. It was the weapon used to disrupt the systems of the Star King; only now it had a much more precise and focused lock on another target, one with less magical protections against it's effects.

"Can it really build up enough speed to make it through miles of water?"

"Haha! You may be a dab hand at doomsday devices, but this is something special. It will cause the station to accelerate towards it's target – force feeding a point location to it's helms – meaning it'll build up as much speed as it needs!"

Before Alexander could react, the Orb crackled, with terrible, jagged beams of energy swirling around it. It out into space – no doubt hitting it's target. Up above at the station – the magical systems of the Man-o-War vessels flicked on and off, previously upright and proud looking Imperial Elves flailing around in dismay. While Alexander was distracted; Rhydion grabbed onto his mech, throwing it into the sea - sending a gush of water flying dozens of meters up – and following it into where it had been designed to hold the most advantage. It dashed around, whacking the Special with it's tail, having been built or modified to hold it's own in this environment. Regina had apparently passed out in one of the attacks.

"That was just a disruptor shot. Next comes the real payload. You are powerless to stop it."

"I'll tear down your silly toy if it so pleases me." said Alexander; somewhat recklessly blasting magical lighting from his weapon, stunning the tail of the Afanc.

"Accept your fate, Alexander Sondheim. You build weapons, you don't break them."

"Nonsense! I break things all the time! Usually while I'm trying to build them!" which was apparently the last battle cry he was going to usher, as the two men locked themselves in a battle of might and ego.

Down below, the water had drained from the room, after Asp had figured out how to operate some magical rune system on the wall that controlled such environmental bits and bobs – also lowering the tower back to room level. He wondered for a while why Sea Elves even needed so many dry areas in their castles, on a world that was almost entirely aquatic, but he shrugged as he wasn't born to worry about such things. In the confusion, Asp and Nada managed to sneak out one of the back passages.

Meirionwen stood facing the Mage she had grown to resent so much. Was it true she was a Doppelganger? Or some other sort of infiltrator... such an easy explanation when you don't want to blame it on your own people. But such creatures, in many ways, only bring out what's already there – so either way, her Father – and everyone else, could not be absolved from blame. Dilys stood in front of her, breathing heavily. She fumbled around, and clutched her staff. What had happened to her? Raia approached Meirionwen and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Her magic is strongly bonded to your father. She's trying to funnel her... essence, her guile towards him. If Alexander breaks away and destroys the Orb, it's all finished. I can't normally read minds so coherently but... this is what she is thinking. I can tell."

"You will not... you will not... stop..." she said, gasping. She was in trouble, if she gave less of herself to Rhydion – he would fail, but as it stood her own power was diminished, and she was surrounded by immensely powerful individuals. There was only her there. She had not anticipated Dr. Lunt and Regina's ceremonious entry. But the soldiers had not fled, and were not all felled by any means, and some of Alexander's crew had been knocked off balance.  
Dr. Lunt put his hand over his mouth and "Hmm'd" for a while as the two groups stood off against each other. "You know, there's something slightly odd about this Elf's features. They seem to almost... fluctuate... pulsate..."

"Raia was right, shapeshifter." Chiemi said, dryly, and she and Rod engaged a couple of the guards.  
"I've seen something like this before. In Illithids. Particularly strong willed individuals, rather, that resisted the Illithid transformation." the Doctor shook his head. Memories flashed into his minds eye of a warzone he'd rather not remember again. "I wonder. Ahem, my lady Princess, I believe you possess some sort of magical purifying abilities, via your water shaping?"

"I studied wizardry, mostly, so... I am not the greatest of water healers, but what do you suggest?"

Dr. Lunt immediately took a more military stance. "Meirionwen, Raia. Sweep as many of them back as you can, if only for a moment. Rod, Chiemi, grab the Mage and bring her here. Keep her pinned." and so they managed to do that, having a considerable upper hand in the combat.

"Nooo! Nooo! I am defeated..." she said, as she clutched some sort of Arcane medallion. Around her, erected a powerful shield – looking much like one of Raia's – that seemed almost impervious to all damage. "You really thought I wouldn't have a trick up my sleeve? This medallion was meant to protect the King from assassination attempts... good luck killing me before the... Orb..."

"But we're not trying to _hurt_ you. We're trying to heal you." said Dr. Lunt, taking off his spectacles to polish them. "I am, after all, a Doctor. Nurse Meirionwen, if you will."

"Gladly." Meirionwen summoned water from the puddles left in the room, gathering it in a smooth arc she swirled around her. While the medallion seemed to reject primarily malicious intent – it still took some magical effort to get the water through. Once there, however...

Meirionwen closed her eyes, and guided the water through the body of the cowering mage. It felt like... there was not one life force here, being affected... but two, intertwined. Dr. Lunt was right – it was some sort of parasite. In it's weakened state – Meirionwen was able to influence it... perhaps even rip it off, while preserving the host beneath. She poured all her willpower into it... she had the feeling of latching onto something familiar...

One of the more fierce soldiers made a lunge for her. Raia was quick to react; raising a psionic shield around Meirionwen and – inadvertently, Dilys. Raia's powers were reliable, but often came with unpredictable side effects... the shield seemed to bond itself psionically to it's targets, sometimes even linking them together... in a hazy vision, Meirionwen experienced one of Dilys's memories... and in it, was her mother... her a pale-ish freckled Azure with long, dark hair...

"You foul creature... go back to the depths from whence you came... I am not some weak maiden you can so easily dispose of... and replace..." In front of Queen Nerys was a Batrachi Doppelganger. Frog-like, slimey, with frighteningly blank features... it stared at her, malevolent and hungry for strife, in her chambers, next to her bed.

"I could leave. However, in replacing the captain of your Guard I was afforded certain... privileges, and a degree of trust. Trust in safeguarding people... like your daughter."

"What! What have you done with her?"

"Oh, you'll _never_ know. Trust me. I've hidden her away. Somewhere were she won't survive very long. Given the amount of smokepowder I managed to smuggle out. And a clock. Attached to some Alchemist's fire. Brutal, yes, but I am a pragmatist when it's called for."  
"I... we will find..."  
"In under an hour? I think that's about what she's left. Not possible."  
"What do you... what do you want me to do? I can't forsake my Kingdom... I can't die, and allow others to follow me in your wake... my daughter means the world to me, but..."  
"You have ambition, Elf. It burns within you. Your King is an arrogant one, but that too has bred an arrogance in you. You love your power, and crave more of it. But you at least feel cautious of that feeling. Your King, I'm not so sure... with me by his side... we would take the Kingdom to new heights of glory. The Batrachi will rise once more... on this world. As Amphibians we were masters of both land and sea. It is us, our skills with teleportation, with space, that helped your ancestors reach these shores. And I stayed behind, to see how you would evolve, waiting to take charge. A seed, to be awoken by ambition... your ambition... together we could create a new empire. "

"No! Never."

"Clock is ticking. Literally. … you do know what a clock is, don't you? I could only find the one of them around here... "

"You are right. I am ambitious. And I protect my family. If you know where my daughter is, I will pull that knowledge from your twisted brain."

"How are you? What..."

Nerys held out her wand, and glared at the Batrachi. It's form seemed to wobble, and flicker. It seems she had been preparing a spell, under her breath. "I suspected you for some time, but could not act. I saw those blank eyes. I knew what you were. Legends spoke of a slimey usurper. And I discovered a spell that is particularly effective against you... within a few minutes... you will be a pile of slime on the floor, no longer able to hold your cohesion. Perhaps I should keep you in a jar?"  
"Impossible... no such spell... exists... I am tied to this very Kingdom itself... anchored..."

"It is a forbidden magic, used to wipe out infestations of Doppelgangers. I'm sure it can manage one, whatever magics have been placed upon you. I risk my own life by casting it." she said, her arm shaking. "I too may loose my form. But I shall not. Now, tell me where my daughter is!"

"No." the creature said. It lashed out with it's long arms – more flexible than ever – and grabbed onto her. It drew itself into her, hugging her slender body. "Hahaha you really did a number on me with that... I'm already melting... what happens if I melt into _you_? There's a reason nobody casts this spell... my dear..." and with that, flesh bonded with flesh... her face and form were warped... "With my cosmic awareness, I watched learned from other races – Illithids, Malaugrym... foul creatures, but their methods were examples that helped my role as your... Incubator... I... we, now, will bide our time, influencing, charming... but our time shall come..."

The last thing Meiri heard was the screams of her mother. She saw now. Dilys was the result of a spell gone horribly wrong; one her Mother had readied to protect herself from the shapeshifting saboteur she had suspected. At first there was something of her Mother in there but over the years... Dilys's increasing cruelty was a result of the creature taking over...

As her vision was left unclouded, in front of her, she saw the same two figures from her vision, her mother, and the Batrachi. Her mother led wide eyes and naked, gasping at the ceiling. The Batrachi, which had shape-shifted it's corrupted form around her mother, giving her a new face and wardrobe – led on the ground, apparently unconscious. Rod scurried over; spun his staff, and stabbed it with a silver blade that appeared from it's hilt, stopping it from reforming itself.

"How did you know to do that?" asked Chiemi.

"Alexander's been following our fight. He told me it would be a good idea. Silver is useful for shapeshifters in general. And catching the glint of a pale moonlight." said Rod, in a flat tone.

"Mother... mother..." Meiri was unable to hold back her tears. The whole thing was surreal, even for a Mage such as her. All those years, underneath that cloak... that stern face...

"My... my child..." replied the Queen, running her fingers down her daughter's cheek. "The creature... Silyd... I had so much of it's distant cruelty in me, it's darkness... but now I'm unburdened. I can process all I learned from that... forgive me, my daughter. Even in protecting you, I was arrogant, overconfident in my own wit and ability. If I had told your father what I knew..."

"Heh, well, I've gotten to know someone else a bit like that lately. Maybe you should have a little chat with him." 

Up above, Rhydion came to. It was not immediate, but once he felt the darkness subside, he knew something was wrong.

"This... this is _madness._ What am I doing? You – Artificer, there is some terrible mistake here. We must disable the weapon before..."

"Yeah, I was hoping you'd say that. Good work down there, everyone."

Together, the two metal giants made for the glowing Orb that threatened the safety of thousands of lives.

"You were right about one thing, your Highness. I do build weapons. And it is an unfortunate business. But I too know to take them apart. Let this mark the start of a better future for both of us."

"Agreed..."

Some time passed. King Rhydion embraced his Queen once more, and they sought the repentance of the people for allowing their hunger for power to be drawn out by the monster, Silyd. The Kingdom was in an unruly state – some accepted the influence of the Batrachi, others disbelieved it entirely. Others – acknowledged it, but as the King and Queen said themselves, it was still their inner corruption being drawn out, and did not view them favourably. The council of Druids which had once been abolished – sending them to work menial jobs – and they offered their counsel in this time in need. Lieutenant Daryl was given a hero's funeral, for his part in ousting the Batrachi. Rhyfon and his sister Cati were offered places in the new Senate the Druids set up in the wake of things – Rhyfon initially refused, but Cati, jumping at the chance to make a difference, agreed. The Artificers were slower to come to their senses than the King, and thus were in quite a precarious position – the Druids decided it best to keep them hidden away for a while.

Alexander on the other hand... it turned out he had managed to broadcast the events to every scrying orb willing to pick it up. Talk spread, and Alexander the Hero who saved two Kingdoms, who helped the princess save her mother, who inspired his noble warriors to fight for the oppressed became a popular local hero. He spent much of the next few days canoodling with his Elven fangirls, and a particular attractive Naga. Chiemi and the others – guests of the palace - caught wind of this. There was a tavern inside the castle grounds – a dry area of course, oft used by guests of the crown.

"Here I thought maybe he was noble after all... he just wanted to play the hero to pick up some floosies..." said Chiemi, arms crossed.

"Now, let's be fair." spoke Raia. "My lord HAS been quite lonely... having to be in hiding... and he's so used to being blamed for catastrophes, can you blame him for wanting to be the hero for once?"

Chiemi tsked, and stared down at her arms. Her hands began to take on a translucent quality. She was phasing back to Toril's Feywild, being anchored to it. "I have to get back to the ship..."

"Girls..." whispered a cloaked figure, somewhat loudly.

"You're..."

"Shh." said Meirionwen. "I don't want my parents to think I'm sneaking about again! Anyway, I was wondering if you could take me with you. I mean, it's either you or that pirate wench, and I'm somewhat inclined to not be a pirate. It seems like an awfully smelly line of work."

"Well, we're essentially pirates too... our ship was stolen, and-" Regina kicked Rod in the shin, an act she'd quickly come to regret, as her face donned a look of pain.

"Why would you want to? Aren't you needed here?"

"Oh, I suppose. People's princess and all that. And I have been doing a lot. And spending a lot of time with my mother. I can't tell you how happy I am to see her again... But I feel I've reached my limit. The Kingdom is going to go through changes... the royals are probably going to end up figureheads, and it's probably for the best. And they probably won't want my parents, even if some forgive them – they'll want me. But they don't _need_ me. Maybe again some day, but..."

"Your parents have only just been de-jerkified though... are you sure you've spent enough time with them?"

"Things are... things are tense, and uncomfortable. We've had some good time together the last couple of days but... it's awkward, you know? I need some time away. It's not as simple as 'oh look I'm no longer being controlled by a horror from the shadow realms now, let's be a family again and play charades and things!' you know? Not to mention things could get ugly in terms of anti-royal sentiment for a while... I believe my parents have been in contact with some sort of friend or vague and ancient relative, Morna? Morgana? Looking to be hidden for a while, far away. I should too."

"Well, we do need a proper Mage, I suppose..." pondered Regina, out loud. "Hey, boss man?"

"Mmmph!" Alexander had been strewn out on a bench in the corner, having apparently been up all night partying(again). Tilting her head to one side, Raia woke him with a tiny mind blast.

"Oh, I see. Urgghh. Telepathic images of the conversation you just had... thank you Raia. Well, yes, we could certainly do with a Princess – err, I mean, wizard on board."

And that was how Meirionwen joined the crew.

* * *

 _? Log_

 _~ George 3000_

* * *

Reginald was busy sorting through various medical supplies. He was quite grumpy – though he was often grumpy – over the fact that his sister had gotten to take part in a bit of an adventure, piloted some sort of incredible transforming craft and enabled the Captain to save the day. He was often quite grumpy, though, especially around his more spirited sister. He was also quite grumpy around his Boss, Dr. Lunt. Reginald being a halfling, and Dr. Lunt being a Giff – a lot of the real finnicky medical work was done by Reginald's small, articulate hands. But Lunt, of course, got most of the credit.

A small number of Sea Elves had decided to sign up for the crew, being very enthusiastic about the idea of leaving for new horizons, no longer trapped beneath the waves. One or two were just protective of their Princess. Some of them had received injuries in the struggle, and of course, now there was the added problem of increased usage of the lake, which would need to be appropriately sanitised. And yes – there was a lake. On a Spelljamming vessel. It had a number of tunnels connecting it to other parts of the city too, which the Sea Elves were particularly enamoured with. It seems that even those who long to leave home behind, still cling to what reminds them of it. How sentimental of them.

Chiemi had apparently taken some sort of poison arrow to the leg, but had been acting cool and trying to shrug it off. It had spread quite far up her leg; dark green veins throbbing in an uneasy fashion, until Dr. Lunt had managed to find the correct antidote. She was resting up in one of the makeshift medical chambers, while Reginald and Dr. Lunt were looking through some Tomes. Despite their squabbling, Raia and Chiemi had become close enough friends that Raia being slumped over on the bed next to Chiemi wasn't a particularly unusual sight. It seems she'd fallen asleep – she exerted herself in the fight as much as anyone.

"So... back there... turns out you are a bit of a soldier after all, Dr. Lunt?"

"I prefer not to think of it that way."

"You say that, but you were fighting alongside and against some incredibly powerful people. You're a better soldier than the the great majority of Giff, I bet."

Dr. Lunt sighed. "I heal your leg, and now you're trying to get at me. I heal people, and I help protect them when they need it. That's all. I may be a fighter when called for here, but I'm not a soldier." Reginald seemed amused that Chiemi had managed to try the gracious Doctor's patience.

"Who were you trying to protect?"

"Ho, ho. Well, my new friends of course. I've become particularly fond of that Dr. Sondheim, of course, and this is his show that he's running."

"Why do people _like_ him? I don't get it."

Dr. Lunt stopped to ponder. "Well he is charming... and handsome, for a somewhat older gentleman... and well, a human."

Chiemi cackled. "I'm sure he'd love to hear that to his face, from a big ol' hippo man. Maybe I should tell him for you. Oh, I should tell my cousin if I ever see her again. Her imagination runs wild with these things..."

"If you do, I'll inject you with a sedative that'll knock you out for a week." said Dr. Lunt, holding up a needle with a small bladder full of some mystery alchemical solution. Chiemi scowled uncomfortably and decided to fall silent.

Raia rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Wha... oh, you're okay. I mean, good, I can leave."

"You're not fooling me, Raia. I know you care. We're practically sisters at this stage!"

"No!"

"Raia. Rayayaya."

"Stop adding recursive syllables to my name! My lord would not approve! I'm leaving, bye." she said, storming out of the room, her loose white garment flowing behind her.

"What's wrong with her? I thought you two were getting on well." commented Reginald.

Chiemi sighed again. "It was seeing that pirate wench. I think she's had doubts about staying on the crew, especially now she seems to have her ship back. I can't really be her big sister, I guess. Hells, I'm probably younger than her. Nada looks what... in her 40s... easily old enough to be my mother, and Raia's a shapeshifter so..." Chiemi seemed to be trying to process something in her head. "She does SEEM kind of young though. I mean, you kind of want to protect her. Even though her whole power is protecting others... hmm..."

"So why did she decide to stay then?" asked Dr. Lunt, washing a beaker.

There was a loud rumbling sound, and the various lanterns that had been planted on walls of importance throughout the ship began to glow and emit a strange and obnoxious sound.

"What is this strange and obnoxious sound?"

"Let's go check it out if you want. It seems important. You should be fine to walk."

Chiemi rose from the bed, stumbled around for a bit(which got a chuckle from Reginald, who subsequently sank when he realised he was being left to pick up all the slack again), then made her way toward the bridge, which was further up in the Cathedral section of the ship. Raia had beaten her there, of course, and was gathered beside Rod, Alexander and the newest addition to the crew, Meirionwen. Everyone was staring at the looking glass, which was set to display an aft view – much of which was taken up by a large Netherese cruiser, in hot pursuit.

"How did this happen?" mumbled Alexander, as he flipped some switches and looked at readings on an adjacent scrying orb.

"We haven't exactly been _discreet._ I mean, we did just sort of take part in a civil war. Sort of. Umm... sorry..." said Rod, who eyed Meirionwen nervously with his viewing spheres.  
"Well, when father put out the call for Artificers nearby, it's possible someone else intercepted that, started tracking us some time after..." she postured.

"Does it look like they're going to open fire? Or make contact?" asked Rod.

"No... it's very strange... it is a very impressive ship, too, if not as large as our own, of course... looks somewhat custom."

The ship resembled a huge Netherese frigate; mostly black but with sizeable areas cast in gold and emerald green. It was particularly ostentatious. It had a great array of golden cannons either side of the ship; with some sort of terrible looking rod at the front that no doubt shot enormous bolts of magical energy.

"I think they might be... scanning our ship. Raia, are you picking up any Psionic interference?"

"I... can't tell. There's definitely something, I think... it's very fuzzy. Oh. It just stopped?"

The looking glass crackled with static. The image was no longer of the ship, but a close up of a silver skull-like adamantine mask. The eyes gazed outwards as if they could see everything in the room; with an overpowering arrogance that could rival Alexander's.

"So this is Alexander Sondheim and his crew. A most impressive ship. My people have just finished their preliminary assessments of it. Of course, I'd much rather come aboard and see for myself."

"And to whom do I owe the pleasure?"

The eyes continued to stare, but seemed now to give the impression of a smile. "I am an inventor, like you. Not merely that, but a fan of your work. Somewhat of a collector, perhaps. Tinkering with your devices gives me such a... wealth of inspiration for my own." he spoke with a deep, resounding voice, and the hint of a sembian accent.

Meirionwen seemed to shrink in herself, recoiling in either fear or disgust. There was a trembling in her voice as I spoke. "I know this voice. I know this voice! I heard him speaking with father... this is a very dangerous man. I thought I might find him... or he you."

Alexander shot a glance sideways to the Elf. "So this is the real reason you tagged along? And here I thought I'd won the won the favour of a princess... well, another princess."

"Oh piss off with that. I won't lie though, this was one of the reasons I wanted to come... I knew someone had been providing father with weapons – perhaps others too. The Batrachi was one thing, but if it hadn't been for the opportunism of the Netherese... how this man fed the malice that took root in my father's heart..."

The masked face laughed. "Ah, the princess from under the sea. Yes, I remember your father. King Rhydion. Tell me – how did he like that little number I kitbashed for him? Was originally one of your Captain's designs. Not that I don't have plenty of my own... but a good design in the hands of a _true_ genius, becomes well, truly genius. I'm not a mere warmonger, however. The troubles of your Kingdom – your world – were many. I had no interest in fanning the flames of war. But necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention... I have a Kingdom to foster back home, and I needed to build alliances, raise funds... once I do so I will be far from a war profiteer, but one in a position to reach out to troubled kingdoms, offer my support... you'll forgive me if you construed other intentions from the aid and counsel I offered your father, but as I am not yet in so stable a position... mistakes may be made."

"Your Kingdom? You're flying a Netherese vessel..." said Alexander.

"So are you." remarked the mask. "We have met before, dear Captain, more than once. Swapped notes, even. You did not approve of some of my ideas. I am Diego of the De Sastre family."

"Oh, well, you _are_ wearing a scary mask, so I didn't recognise you."

"Well, let's just say your notes were not the most reliable and a certain... accident may have occurred. You could easily have gone down the same road. The rest of you may have heard of me by another name. You see, my family is renowned for it's construction of weapons, but more especially enchanted clothing and armour. We are a family of _tailors_ you might say, from which our name is derived. So many know me as simply the Tailor. But you may call me Doctor De Sastre."

"The Tailor!" Dr. Lunt's ears perked up. "I remember you now... though you did not wear such a mask, and your voice was somewhat different... yes, it WAS you! You were the one who offered to fund Medics without Monarchs..."

"Just a token of my grand generosity, and humanitarianism..."

"Some of us aren't human you know!" said Rod, with his fist clenched, failing to think of a better comeback.

"The kingdom I am building, Reino De Acero, lies between Sembia and Netheril, in and around the Thunder peaks... As such, it was difficult not to ally myself with the Netherese. For the most part, it has been a purposeful alliance. They provided me with this ship, some crew... much easier than acquiring it for myself. I propose now, another purposeful alliance. You have resources I need. You need to be hidden away from my Netherese allies, and well, everyone else really. At the very least, I believe we could make an exchange. I have great resources and thus far have managed to conceal your existence from the the Empire. For my continued aid, as a peace offering... I believe you have a crew member with potent psionic abilities."

"What?" snapped Chiemi, as Raia jumped.

"It is my belief that they may have a unique signature to their powers... with research I believe I could partially replicate their psionic shields, and use it in my... armours. This would, of course, be mutually beneficial. As I have used your work in mine, I am not beyond sharing the results."

"Like hell we're giving her up."

"Ahh, Ms. Chiemi Kenzaki. I see you and your sister came about, at some point, as a result of Dr. Sondheim's ideas... the chance to study your abilities would be most interesting too. Not as interesting as Alexander's daughters, of course, but..."

"What do you know about my daughters, De Sastre?"

"As someone with an interest in spelljamming, as you can see, I have been monitoring signs of trans-dimensional noise... and my affiliation with the Netherese has afforded me many capable Agents. I have people in a certain University, in fact... and those people may be inclined to make deals with other people who are interested in your children. A most unfortunate situation."

Alexander slammed his fist on the console. "Eat the bones of the dead, you asshole."

"I take it you're not interested. Shame. I urge you otherwise, as regardless, I will be taking the girl, and any other crew members I deem to be interesting. The Star Selkie, the teleporter... and oh my, that strange construct with the staff... You are flying a stolen Netherese vessel, and I will be rewarded handsomely for taking the ship... don't worry, I won't _aim to_ kill anyone. Enslavement is much more profitable, if unsightly. But what will be will be. Such is the will of De Sastre. You have 5 minutes to confer and reconsider. Then we open fire. And do not underestimate me. There are several more ships cloaked nearby. Choose wisely." the transmission flickered off.

"I'd really rather not be blown up or enslaved. These are, generally, the sort of things that happen a lot to constructs that we don't like." said Rod.

"Indeed. None of us do." nodded Meirionwen. "All of us have reason to fear tyrants and enslavement. All of us have suffered or been taken advantage of. It's driven us together, and for that we should be thankful. But we must take a stand."

"Listen, we've been lucky this far. And we're about to fight someone for whatever perverse reasons has helped us to get to this point. I'm not a born leader, and I'm probably not a good person to rally upon. I don't know how much better I treat others than men like him. Even if you stand with me, chances are, the more strange and wonderful people I meet and take on board, the more you might fade into the background as new people and things take up my fascination. But... I still need you. I will still need you. And here and now, I need you. I'm not a captain you want to go down for, so if you want to abandon me I don't blame you. You can take one of the escape Skiffs and sneak away while I hold him off."

"Oh my gods, listen to yourself." said Chiemi.

"Umm... excuse me?"

"You're trying to spin you being a bit of an asshole into something cool. And then you taking a big stand all on your own, for much the same reasons. Stop trying to be so... grandiose about everything! If people are willing to tolerate you just accept it. The minute we leave you're going to have some trick up your sleeve. You'll run, you always keep running. I know because I spent a lot of time running after you. For whatever dumb reason, we've all been thrown together, and it seems to work in some messed up way. Or well, we haven't died yet."

"I agree. Let's protect what we have built. Even if we end up having to run again, I want to take a stand first." said Raia.

"Alright then. Scruff-2, go prepare the escape Skiffs... fast."

"Oh."

"We're going to use them to crash aboard."

"Oh!"

"We'll hit the command centre. The bridge. If we can't deal with the ship. Fuck up whatever he can use to track us. They'll open fire on us any second. Dr Lunt, you know how to take charge the ship by now, I hope, and Regina knows how to work the weapons. George and Scruff-2 will smooth out your edges and take care of the rest. You'll take over from us as soon as we board. We'll try and blast a weak spot near the bridge. Watch out for uncloaking vessels. We'll sabotage the ship, lower the anti-teleportation shields, then you beam us back in. Sound like a plan?"

"Not really, but it's um... something." shrugged Dr. Lunt, recalling his innate Giff military expertise.

"Sensors show they're powering up weapons, captain." announced George, in a more serious tone than usual. "They're going to fire the forward canon. Not sure what it does, but there's an immense thaumaturgical signature coming from it. If they target the command deck, I don't know how well we can defend against it..."

"Maybe... maybe I can deflect it. If I put everything I have into my psionic shields..." suggested Raia.

"Raia no! This could be the sort of weapon that wipes out small armies... I've seen how you can exhaust yourself... do you even know what would happen if you pushed it that far?" exclaimed Chiemi.

"I do not. But adding my shield to the ship's own defences could give it the edge -"

"Girls! The weapon is going to fire any second now." Alexander was busy clattering away on a series of buttons and twisting brass knobs. "I've got a lock on the weapon. I'm going to focus as much power as I can into the Dispelling beam... even if I can't shut it down directly, scattering enough of the magic might cause it to misfire. Remember, we've got weapons of our own. I'm saving the Sun Ray for our entrance, of course..."

"They're about to fire! Locking on to it's signature with the Dispel beam..." announced George. "Wow. It's like trying to grab onto a bunch of fireworks. Um, maybe some manual targeting would help? Also, this is really more of a magic scattering beam than a true dispel beam..."

Alexander sighed as he grabbed onto a joystick and wrenched on it. On top of the ship, a huge wand-like appendage with a glowing dome at the end swung around in the general direction of De Sastre's ship. Eventually, between the two of them, Alexander and George managed to to fixate on the terrible, crackling weapon. Alexander pushed down on a shiny purple button on top of the joystick, which launched a stream of multicoloured, dancing energy towards the storm surrounding the Netherese craft's forward rod, easily sliding it's way past the craft's shields which were designed to protect against more offensive magics. There was a deep, smoky cloud as the lightning dispersed, and the weapon seemed to power down. Small explosions began to pop up around the weapon, damaging the hull. He had know way of seeing it, but Alexander was sure that DeSastre smashed his fist down in disgust.

"Hah! We did it. George, I'm going to have to build you an arm so we can high-five."

"FINALLY. Rod keeps challenging me to arm-wrestling matches, and I have no appendage with which to engage in such activity."

De Sastre's ship turned so it's side, armed with an abundance of cannons, was facing the ship. A dozen other vessels surrounding began to decloak around the flagship, closing in on the Star King. A barrage of mystically charged cannonballs struck the shields of the Star King, causing minimal damage to the hull, but causing the bridge to shake dramatically(quite possibly it was downed to do so, to make things more tense and exciting).

Soon after an exchange of various projectiles between the two ships, Scruff-2 rolled onto the bridge. "Ding."

"Oh, good. The Skiffs are ready. Chiemi, Raia, Rod, Meiri... let's get to the -"

"Didn't you have to blow a hole for us to get in first?"

"My gods, you're right. Let's pull the ship up! Increasing pitch... Rod, pull the pitch lever!"

The enormous city-vessel slowly edged it's way into what would have been up had they been in any notable field of gravity, giving the Sun Ray mounted somewhere below the Cathedral a clearer angle to strike the bridge. A pull of another lever, and the sideways thrusters ignited, pushing the craft into position.

"Oh yes! George let's do this!" Alexander dashed over to another section of the console on his wheeled chair and grabbed hold of a larger, golden joystick. "George, do you have a lock on the bridge? I'll use manual targeting again to help follow -"

"Locked on, 33 degrees starboard. Yaw -"

"They don't need to know that! I'm not even sure if you're not just saying random things! Just fire!"

"You need to press the button."

"Oh." and Alexander pressed the big golden button(which was a lighter shade of gold than the shaft of the joystick). A ball of blonde light eminated from the structure, a halation surrounding what had come to resemble a piece of entertainment equipment from a particular eccentric observatory or plantarium – which condensed and focus into a funnel of intense yellow-white light; gleaming against the darkness of space in a huge burst. The ray struck an area of the Netherese ship close to the bridge, resulting a spectacular display of rainbow tinted fireworks as it clashed with the energies of the magical barrier protecting it. The lightning rod had blown back into the ship, and the dispel beam that caused it largely bypassed it – but this was external, offensive power, and De Sastre was bright enough to divert as much power as possible to shields which were designed to handle this.

Beneath the shields, thousands of tiny explosions, and a few dozen larger ones began to batter away at an increasingly vulnerable section of the hull. But... the beam soon dissipated. And the hull was not breached.

"Shit!" said Alexander. "Well, that plan's fucked... mostly. We don't know for sure how damaged it is from this distance, though. Between that and the rod blasting inwards, their shields are probably low and still adapting. If we fire a few regular shots and unload everything we have in the skiffs, then maybe..."

Meirionwen raised her hand. "No! That's crazy. We're not doing that. I'm over-ruling this, as princess."

"But-"

Meirionwen poked Alexander with her staff. "Stop that! Stop that now."

"Wow, I need to get a big stick to hit him with too. When he gets dumb ideas." mused Chiemi.

"Well, you're going to need a bigger stick, because I'm FULL of big ideas! How about we rig the Sondheim Special to carry 600 pounds of-"

The looking glass began to cloud and crackle once more. Rod twiddled some knobs and the screen focused on the image of a ship uncloaking. Cackling echoed from the grammaphone-style speakers that provided the room with it's sound. The image of a skull and crossbones with a snake running from ear to nose overlayed the display.

"Listen up, you losers! This is the SS Sky Serpent, and guess what, we're pirates! We're here to steal your fucking ships! It looks like one of you idiots is running low in the shield department, so _if you don't mind_ we'll be boarding quite soon. Put a put of tea on for us, and we might not kill anyone. Boa here says she's partial to Assam. Do you have any Assam? Better raid those pantries, assholes! Oh, and don't pull any funny shit, we have an _ultra mega death_ weapon I'd rather not waste the usage of. Try to shoot us down and this shit will go off on yourself. Unless you enjoy the idea of getting strained through a black hole to the abyss, then stay cool and do what we say, chutiya!" there was some sort of distortion and reverberation, but it was still clearly Nada's voice, speaking in her thick Chavyondati accent, with an inflection that was simultaneously somewhat juvenile and beginning to be worn at by age and fast living.

While not a small ship, The Sky Serpent was dwarfed by the Star King – and considerably smaller than De Sastre's vessel. It was rather long and thin and had the appearance of a large old Shining Lands _Boita_ ship being occupied by a three headed, red-green serpent. It also seemed to be, for a ship of it's size, quite heavily armed, as several canons and contraptions seemed to be folding out of it's sides. It was quite possible Nada's threats were not idle. George's sensors picked up something with the signature of a gravity bomb, and the stench of the Abyss.

"Can you contact her!? Does she know it's us!? Nada... she's come to rescue us, hasn't she?" said Raia, clutching her hands close to her heart. "That's her old ship, she must have gotten it back... I hope she didn't kill anyone for it... well, nobody nice..."

Alexander sighed and grabbed one of the Microphones. "Nada, it's me. Alexander Sondheim. Raia is here. I mean, obviously."

There was no response for a few seconds, then a crackling. "Oh, goatee-and-sandals. Of course I know it's you. I've been following your ship for days. So you survived that thing with the Sea Elves?"

"I know you know! I mean... what are you doing? Are you... a threat to us too?"

"Just got swept up in the moment! You know how it is. I have stockpiled some nasty weapons. As I'm sure have you. I'd rather not burnt them on this, but if it's on protecting Raia..."

"This fellow De Sastre's been following us for a while too, apparently."

"Oh, I know. He hired me to help take you out. He returned my ship with contents intact, which the Netherese had seized. I betrayed him, of course." Nada audibly shrugged. "He's been pursuing Raia and others like her he can use to bolster his little Kingdom back on Toril. Seems to think he can casually exploit the Empire of Shade who are probably just going to seize all his 'research' when it suits them, like they did my ship. His Ego's even bigger than yours. If that's possible."  
"Well, thank you for your expert assessment. Before you made your rather aggressive entrance, we were trying to breach the hull of De Sastre's flagship and blow up whatever we reckon he can use to track us. Then run away before he can repair it. It's less cowardly, because we're putting up a fight before we're running this time." Alexander nodded to himself.

"It's not actually that hard to track you, you know." shouted someone that was probably Mamba in the background.

"Well, I'll run away _really hard_ this time."

"Okay, so you want to beat up the head, paralyse him... I see you've done a number on their shields, and the structural integrity here is a bit... hmm... how you planning to get in?"

"Crash some skiffs in there and jump out at the last minute."

"Haha. Nice. I think I can help you make your way in. This serpent has a nasty bite. Asp! Is the weapon ready?"

On top of the ship, emerged a huge gun unlike anything most in Realmspace had seen. It's design was inspired from a far away realm, no doubt, and in ours we would say it resembled a minigun. A very, very large Minigun. The Barrels began to rotate and spin, as the Serpent rolled and twisted into place, dodging between fire of the assembled fleet.

"Let's do this! Viper, fire the omni-cannon!"

As the gun reached full speed, it shot not bullets or pellets but _full size cannonballs_ from each barrel, loading in 3 or 4 a second. About 50 cannonballs struck the area near the bridge, with another 10 or 20 tearing through a smaller, more heavily damaged ship that unfortunately found itself in the way. They ripped through the shield and blasted a hole wide open.

"Ah! Suzy! I was wondering where she'd gotten to. Nice job fixing her up!"

"You built that? You NAMED it?" said Chiemi.

"I thought you didn't like weapons..."

"Well, originally, it fired huge snowballs. The prince of Frost challenged me to a snow-fight and I didn't want to lose. Suzy the Snow Canon, I called her. Never mind that! Let's get to the skiffs! Everyone! Except you Dr. Lunt. Regina. Stick to the plan. Swat away those annoying ships so we have a clear run of it. Nada, cover us, et cetra. Bye."

"Hey wait-" said Nada, but Alexander had already run out of the room. 

"Damn that Sondheim! Damn that treacherous pirate. Resume fire!"

"Mmm, sir, what about the weapon she threatened to have, we found an energy signature that suggests-"

"We'll figure that out if she activates it, Officer Hutchins. We've sat idle too long while those two tinkerers pick away at our vessels. If we succeed... if we sieze not only Sondheim's precious companions and equipment but whatever contraptions that other vessel is holding... there may be a position of Admiral going for you, Hutchins. Perhaps you could be head of our entire spelljamming Program. Fail and you'll live the rest of your life as a peasant, to reflect on your failure. Now, if you'll excuse me..." De Sastre arose from his chair, flung around his cape, and began to walk out of the room, perhaps to activate some ungodly doomsday device.

"Um... well, I do have a wife and children... that would be... unpleasant. Resume fire! Keep scrying for anything that might indicate fluctuations in the Gravity bomb!"

"First Officer Hutchins, the damage from the um... rapid fire multi-canon weapon caused a significant breach in the hull only 100 meters from here... there are incomings from Sondheim's vessel, I believe they're collaborating to infiltrate and take control of the ship..."

"Officer Hutchins! 3 more pirate ships have appeared. They appear allied with the Sky Serpent. We've done them significant damage but they've crippled two of our ships!"

"They're flies compared to us! Flies! Swat them down!" screamed Officer Hutchins, waving his arms frantically.

"Um... if we're humans and they're flies, then what does that make Sondheim's craft?" a cowering Ensign accidentally pondered out loud.

"A dragon." said Officer Hutchins. "And if you're not brave enough to fight a dragon, get the hells off my bridge."

The Ensign reflected on this. Perhaps it wasn't that he wasn't brave enough, just that he didn't want to do it for jerks like Hutchins and De Sastre. But he had a family to feed, too.

"Raia... don't forget he's looking for you, you know. I don't want to scare you but... I don't want to leave you only for you to get bonked on the head with some anti-psy device and dragged off to prison again. I know it was Alexander that sort-of-promised Nada he'd take care of you but given his... absent-mindedness, I can't help but being the one that worries."

"That's sweet. You are like a sister to me sometimes."

"Even when we fight?"

"Especially when we fight."

"Listen... I have what you might call a birth sister... well, um... it's sort of complicated where the "birth" part comes into it... she has powers a bit like yours, different but similar. I wanted to give you something she once gave me." Chiemi opened her hand to reveal an egg-sized, azure crystal. "These are... I'm not entirely sure what they are. They're crystallisations of psionic energies and magics... They can manifest in different forms, usually weapons. Sarah uses it to make her blades... I thought maybe you could use something a bit cooler than that Khopesh."

"So this is... a weapon? A blade? A strange gift between sisters... gifted once more. I have grown fond of that Khopesh. But..." Raia grabbed the crystal in her hand. It seemed to react to her psionic essence, glowing briefly a deep red before settling back to it's natural azure. It seemed to reforge itself in her hand, making the shape of a hilt.

"Does it normally do that?"

Chiemi shrugged. "I think Sarah just ate hers. Maybe not the best idea in retrospect."

A beam of silvery blue energy shot out from the crystal. Then, it curved, and met a point.

"Oooh! Light Khopesh. Cool." said Raia, as she swung around the no doubt immensely deadly weapon. "Whooom. Whimmmm. These noises are fun. Thank you, sister Chiemi! I shall slay some Netherese in your honour." Raia went to hug Chiemi, who went wide eyed as the Khopesh came dangerously close to her finely cut bob.

"C-careful." said Chiemi, as the Selkie squeezed her.

"Oops." said Raia, and turned off the crystal. She affixed it to her belt, and it seemed happy to stay there.

"Okay you two! The rest of us are climb aboard these death-traps now, let's hurry on!" they heard Meirionwen shout, as she and the others scrambled into the Skiff. They rose from the crate they were sat on, and boarded. 

The area around the breach was cold. It seemed as if Alexander had been telling the truth about the Nada had used, and there was some lingering frost magic in there. Some sort of magical barrier had been erected to prevent loss of air, but it would be easily bypassed. The larger Skiff contained all 5 members of the team, with 2 others buzzing around as distractions. Chiemi wrapped her arms around Raia, Rod, Meirionwen and Alexander, getting in position to make the jump.

"Regina, George. make the shot." Alexander spoke into a receiver. Dr. Lunt, a reasonably adept Helmsman and pilot as well as doctor, had swung the ship around into position. A smaller, more focused instance of the Dispel beam _schoomed_ past the skiff and and disabled the the barrier. The Star King swung around once more, ramming into one of the smaller Netherese vessels which was about to engage them. "Keep on them. We'll want an easy out. Protect the Skiffs if you can." With that, Chiemi blinked, and the gang of five poof out of existence, reappearing just inside the breach.

"Couldn't we have done that in the first place?" asked Rod.

"Too risky. No line of sight, and this ship is lined with materials that make teleportation difficult, even if we can bypass the shields." Chiemi explained. Rod nodded.

"Raia, do you detect any life signatures nearby?"

"Yes, but they're blurry... I can't pin them down. There may be some anti-psy magics in place..."  
Meirionwen was holding up what looked like a large pearl. As she waved a hand over it, it seemed to turn translucent. She seemed to be using it for scrying, most likely to try and determine the layout. Alexander was fiddling with a more complicated looking box-shaped contraption that seemed to be doing much the same. The corridors in this section were wide, and constructed from darkly coloured wood and steel. It seemed like these were some sort of back passage, as they were quite plainly decorated, given who's ship it was. Being a Netherese ship originally, there were bound to be some similarities with the city section of the Star King.

They came to set of a stairs, just past an alcove. Past the stairs, the corridor split left and right. Meirionwen motioned for them to stop, about the same time Raia flinched. She shoved the orb in her bag, and drew her staff silently.

"Everyone keep quiet, and gather in this alcove." Raia communicated, telepathically. Meirionwen used her staff to cast ghost sound before twirling back for cover. The sound of 5 sets of footsteps came from the stairs – soft enough that it sounded like they were trading lightly, but loud enough to be heard by a discerning ears. From around the two corners emerged a number of what appeared to be high level security staff, clad in dark leather armour and helmets. These were high grade warriors, cosmic mercenaries, brandishing weapons with sinister magics. Meirionwen cast forth a cloud of whispy smoke. The helmets did little to protect the guards – and within seconds, they were flat on the ground, unconscious.

"I have a feeling they are the strongest people here that will work on. We could have taken them, but they're nasty." said Raia.

Alexander went to loot their bodies, which met with some brief disapproval, as their weapons looked quite cursed. He donned a pair of purple gloves and dropped them in a bag of holding. They then proceeded up the stairs.

"I'm pretty sure they must know we're here, why are we going stealthy?"

"Well, there's a number of routes through this ship. It's quite large, though not as large as the Star King." explained Meirionwen. "We don't want to deal with more guards than we have to. Ideally we'd like to not make a lot of noise until we actually get to the bridge. And then, well, seal the doors and unload whatever you have, it's going to be a bit of a shit-fest. Here, take this left."

Suddenly, unforeseen, two of the black guards jumped Rod, who had been trailing behind. They made little noise, and unfortunately, Rod tended to make quite a lot of noise. They brought down their cursed blades, which he managed to guard against with his staff. Meirionwen cast a cone of silence over them, as soon as she spotted them. Apparently, invisibility magics didn't work due to the special lanterns that illuminated the place, but as she already knew, sound-based magic did. Another guard jumped Chiemi, who immediately regretted it; she lunged for his side with a knife, that ended up teleport-stabbing his back. Alexander armed his Crossbow, picking away at the one of the helmed men on Rod. Raia was defensive mode, as two more guards picked away at her.

"Shit, there's another one, he's got a Grenade!" another one from up further in the hallway tossed some thinking incredibly unstable looking towards the group. It had just barely entered the cone of silence, where it silently exploded, in a blast of necrotic energy. Raia erected her shield too late to block it. Chiemi, who had taken some sneaky stabs from the guard on her, was starting to look seriously banged up, as she was flung against the wall. Alexander picked himself up on the floor, and hurled one of his admixtures in her direction, which swirled around her in a cloud of healing energy. Chiemi picked herself up, teleported to the grenadier, stabbed him in the neck with a paralysing dagger, and poofed back to kick her previous assailant in the head, as he too rose from a prone position.

Meirionwen was getting all too conscious of the fact that they could be dogpiled here. If she hadn't already taken care of the previous lot, this could have been very serious, but she regretted not having another sleep spell. Her hands danced in the air, her staff levitated between, as an icy tornado began to form in the space between. The Tornado grew, and grew until it became a storm that lashed out at anyone with ill-intent, sweeping them down the corridor. Raia used her psionic blasts to further pummel them as they passed her.

There was a clanking noise as a heftily armoured construct came down the stairs. Raia's eyes fixated on it. She had seen this model before – it had been used by the Neogi slavers. They were specifically built to handle creatures with strong psionic powers. No doubt De Sastre was the one who sold it to them. This one bore his face, his mask, but she could only see the Neogi laughing as the construct, resistant to her psionic attacks, grabbed her by the throat and beat her to submission. She lunged right for it, using the totality of psionic energies to bullrush the mechanoid into the next room, a wide open storage room just underneath the bridge. She reached down to her belt, and grabbed the crystal handle.

"I won't be pushed around by soulless suits of armour again. Craftsmanship, creativity... these powers should be used for good, as Ptah decrees. Those who build machines to push me down or dissect me..." - the Khopesh lit up from it's handle - "Let this be a message for what will happen to them." Raia spoke, as she channelled some of Nada's confidence. No, not just hers...

The construct swung it's mighty fist down towards her; Raia held it back with her shield, but the machine was designed to breach such things. Eventually it struck her, but less profoundly than she remembers. These machines were built to adopt to people like her – but she was adapting to _them._ She swung her Khopesh at the construct – as she struck the abdomen, sparks few everywhere. The construct, looking for a means of retort, pulled a large metal blade from it's black, which had a subtle radiant glow of it's own. The psionic blade slashed away at the armour, every now and then being deflected by the huge steely blade of the construct.

"I can't waste any more time on you, soulless one." she said, as she sliced her khopesh through the construct's knees, toppling it to the floor, face first. She flipped over to it's side, held her blade firmly with both hands, and thrust it into the construct's back, deactivating it, as it's whirrs and clicks came to a standstill.

Raia fell to the ground, gasping. Her blade deactivated, and she stared at her hands, panicking. She'd never had such killing intent before. It was just a construct, but she wasn't seeing the construct. She was seeing her captors. And then eventually, though she did not at first, she saw De Sastre, who's mask adorned his creation. Her would be captor, and manufacturer of oppressive devices. If someone had stood her in way, when they entered the room, then, then... she took a deep breath. The others outside probably had killed a living sapient creature by now. Adventurers, unfortunately, killed many. Even she likely had. But she'd never felt that rage, that passion. She looked at the crystal that had been a gift from her friend – her new sister. It was beautiful, but... she was more than that.

"No, I was right. I don't have time to waste here. I have people to protect. They have no Paladin, no hardy warrior in enchanted plate mail to take the hardest blows. They need my shields to keep them safe." she rose from her feet, and rejoined the battle in the corridors.  
As Raia returned to the room, she found the others had managed to knock out the masked men. One of them was face down next to Chiemi, with far more knives in his back than Chiemi could rationally keep on hand.  
"Hey! I caught a glimpse of you wrecking that construct in there... impressive stuff. I knew you were a decent fighter, but I didn't know you could let loose like that!"

"Thanks... the blade was, um, very useful. I think now I've worked out some of my frustrations, I might learn to use it more defensively, however."

"Well, good luck with that I guess!"

"Okay, ladies and... Rod. I believe the bridge is up ahead. I have something set up that should scramble their sensors and make it hard for them to track the Star King again. But ideally, we should wreck the place."

"I believe things get wrecked a lot around you in general, Dr. Sondheim. Quite often, lives." a voice came from around the corner. It was De Sastre. He came into full view, wearing his black and green armour, and purple cloak. The eyes of his mask seemed to glow a sinister, unfathomable colour. He stood a good 6 foot 6, if not more so. Though smaller than his construct bodyguard, there was something almost demonic about him. Alexander got the feeling there was something very wrong lurking behind that steely exterior. What had happened to him? What experiment had gone wrong?

The glow in his eyes subsided, and he gestured to a figure beside him. It was a large, humanoid figure, of similar stature to De Sastre. It resembled a Goliath, but also an Elf. A curious crossbreed, but that was not all that was curious about him. It's face wore a blank, if slightly sombre impression, and it was clad in black hide armour similar to the others. It looked around the room, as if it had briefly forgotten where it was. Alexander couldn't help but note it's arms, which were largely exposed. Spellplague-like blue lines ran down them, like an unfortunate magical tattoo.

"May I introduce my humble servant... no, associate, Mr. Flex. Say hello, Mr. Flex."

"Hello..."

"Come along, if you've made it this far, we may as well discuss things. Of course, I am not happy about the damages to my ship and... guards. Oh well, I'll throw them back in the Cauldron I stole from those Elves. That'll get them up and running again. Possibly"

De Sastre casually walked past Alexander and his people, up the stairs to the Bridge's side entrance. Alexander shrugged, and the rest of them followed.

"I see you too take in interest in special people, Dr. Sondheim. Have created a few yourself, in fact! Mr. Flex here is a particularly special fellow."

"What have you done to him? Did you... torture him? He looks broken."

"Oh goodness no. He was like that when I got him. I've been working at him. No, he was all too happy to work for me when nobody else would have anything to do with him. I promised him I'd help him with his abilities. I'm sure I could help your wonderful young friend... Raia wasn't it?"

"I have a pretty good handle on my powers, thanks."

"Well, much like me, you have a habit of... collecting special people, so she's not the only one. Chiemi... I met your father once, you know. Quite recently in fact. Dr. Kenzaki. He refused my help, of course. I hear he hasn't been seen since. Unfortunate."

"You asshole."

"Don't let him get a rise from you. He did this all the time. He probably hasn't even met him."

"Oh, but I have. He seemed to have a renewed interest in solving Chiemi's issues. Being anchored to the Feywild, being unable to remain in other planes – or even other parts of Faerie – for very long. Impressive that you managed to your ship's engines to anchor her. But how well has that been working, really? Have you found a solution? Ah, here we are. May I introduce you to Officer Hutchins. He has a gift of his own, in fact, though not quite as impressive as Mr. Flex's."

"Sir..." said Officer Hutchins, nervously, saluting. Had he captured them? What was up to now?

"So, Dr. Sondheim. I won't pretend not to be at least a little angry at you putting me in this difficult position. You have with you individuals who probably could take down the crew of your average spelljamming vessel single handed. Your ship likely bests mine, and the treacherous pirate seems to be favouring you with her nasty little ship and it's admittedly entertaining arsenal. You are, however, on my territory now, and you should understand that it means I hold power over you. We both stand to lose from this situation. So I propose – hand me over one of your crew. They are all quite fascinating. The princess, the automaton, the jester, the esper. Oh, and you. The Tinkerer."

"Not a chance. I don't 'collect' them like you do. I... happened upon them. It's true I have a certain attachment to strange people, but um... I tend to sleep them with rather than coerce them into working for me. Well, if they're attractive, and preferably female. This crowd are just a bunch of people I happened upon when I needed a crew of awesome badass people to do awesome badass space adventurer stuff with. And I'm kind of attached to them now."

"Hey! Are you saying I'm not cute?" exclaimed Meirionwen, taking a minute to process the part about attractive females. "Look at this adorable pout!" she pouted.

"Yeah, I've seen that pout somewhere before from a certain someone. It doesn't work on me."

"Do not folly my presence with such distractable behaviour! Ahem, I mean... I will not mistreat your crewman if you decide to hand them over to me."

"Find your weirdos!" said Rod. "Wait, am I a weirdo? That includes me doesn't it. Hmmm."

"Well, I could hand over Rod, I guess. I mean, he's not particularly attractive, or female."

"N-no!"

"But I also don't remember building him even though he looks like my handiwork so I'm curious as to how he actually came about. You know how these things are for us." he shrugged. "And the others are endearing and colourful. Even the Hippo-man."

"I didn't ask about the Hippo-man!"

"Poor Dr. Lunt." thought Raia, aloud.

"Sigh. Why do I even try... Mr. Flex, seize Dr. Sondheim and throw him in the brig. Be careful with the curiosities. Bridge staff, activate the constructs and seize the curiosities."

Mr. Flex's right arm swelled to twice it's size, it's fingers stretching out, glowing a vibrant blue. Rod reacted immediately, and deflected the arm with his staff, pummelling him in the chest. With his other arm, he swept Rod aside, punching him with a tremendous force. Rod skidded along the floor of the bridge until he crashed into the wall. Two constructs, much like the ones Raia had defeated, rose up from the floor on platforms, and grabbed hold of Meirionwen and Chiemi, while the bridge staff distracted them and drew their fire.

"Ugh, big man with his tin soldiers. I won't forgive you for pushing father further down that dark path with your fancy toys..." said Meirionwen, and she struggled to get loose. She spoke some soft words, and ice began to cover the surface of the construct, but she couldn't quite manage to slip out. The bridge officers focused their fire on the barrier protecting Alexander, unsure of it's origin.

"Let them go!" shouted Raia, as she drew her Light Khopesh.

"Impressive weapon, child! Hutchins, show her what you can do."

A wry smile appeared on Hutchins face, for the first time in as long as De Sastre could remember. "Finally." Hutchins reached his arm out, and it _squelched_ is it transmuted into something quite different, a grotesque, nightmarish organic blade. He leapt from his seat and engaged the Star Selkie with it. Dark, dusty purple smoke emitted from it's pores as she swung it to meet Raia's Khopesh. It burnt him when they connected, his face tense with pain, but for whatever reason, he seemed relentless. "Do you have any idea how boring it's been rising my way through the bridge ranks? I only got made First Officer because I agreed to these experiments, you know... I bet you were born with your gift, child."

"No! Distractions, distractions. Have to protect my friends... my lord!" Raia concentrated on Alexander, who had summoned a spike armour construct to protect him from Mr. Flex's warped limbs. Blue sparks crackled every time his fist met with the steel. A red bubble manifested around them. It soon grew horns, and a face, and arms, which linked with those of Mr. Flex's, and pushed back. Rod jumped in, engaging Hutchins hammering his legs with the piston action of his staff, felling him to the ground.

De Sastre drew a large pistol from his waist, and shot rapid bursts of magic missile at the shield, while circling around. Soon, he had a clear shot for Raia herself.

"Looks like it's taking everything you have to keep that shield up. Is he really worth it? Trust me, you'd have a better time with me. Look at all the awesome trinkets I possess. Like these... anti-psy rounds, for example." he said, loading his pistol with small glowing diamonds. He fired several shots at Raia. She closed her eyes, and time began to slow down. Her arm moved, instincitvely, her wrist twisted, so her blade met with every shot, zapping them out of existence.

"Arghhh! I am simultaneously impressed and angry. Why, the more I wish to have you, the more difficult you become to possess?"

"What was that about treating her well?" said a voice from behind De Sastre. It was Chiemi.

"What? How did you get out -"

"Teleporter, jackass. Alexander concocted me a resistive cincture so that cold iron bullshit didn't work either. Crafty bastard. Looks like I managed to slip it out of my pocket when I was grabbed. Speaking of grabbed..." Chiemi grabbed De Sastre with one hand, and with the other held a knife under his throat. "So, which would be more likely to do you in? I try to cut your throat, or I bamf you into space and leave you there?"  
"Engineer Kravitz. Destabalise her."

"Yes, sir." rings of violet energy blasted across the room from a tube in the wall. Chiemi was bombarded with them. The more they struck her, the more she began to grow translucent, and fade in and out of vision.

"W-what? What's happening?"

"The planar stabiliser in your vessel is of Netherese origin. As it happens, this ship also possesses one... and it was quite simple to reverse it's polarity, and intensify. It is a pity to part ways, dear Ms. Kenzaki, but I will not be threatened in my own ship."

"Chiemi!" shouted Alexander, with a strike of concern she was not used to hearing from him. "Oh, gods, what am I doing cowering behind this shield, shooting silly arrows at this strange man with big arms... De Sastre, reverse that de-stabiliser now or I swear I'll rip off that ridiculous cloak and choke you with it!" Alexander dashed towards De Sastre. He passed Meirionwen who was finally causing enough icy damage to the construct for it to let her go. Her eyes were enraged as she swung her her staff, struck the ground, and with a motion of her hand, raised De Sastre in the air.

Alexander ran, shouting as he dashed, towards the levitating Sembian. Rods, and gears, and pulleys, and brassy mithril plates began to pop into existence around his hand, encasing it in a mighty mechanical fist. Pistons appeared on it's side, and the fist launched forwards, dragging Alexander with it, punching De Sastre firmly in the solar plexus. Fractalled lines of golden energy sprouted out along De Sastre's armour, and he was flung across the room, crashing into the bridge's looking glass, smashing it. He slumped on the ground, coughing up a trickle of blood.

His mask had struck against something on the side, and become cracked. A small portion of it detached, and Alexander saw what was inside. It was dark... perhaps blue, perhaps violet... swirling, bubbling. It seemed to seep out, by way of a misty substance, until he reached for the missing piece, and shoved it back in place. It automatically refused, concealing him once more. His eyes, which had also become consumed by the mist, were visible once more. Parts of the glass the mist had come into contact with seemed to cloud up in a most unnatural fashion, and discolour it... almost like it was rotting away.

"Goodness, De Sastre. What happened to you?"

"You. Like you happen to everyone else. It was YOUR faulty research that caused this. My body emits this... this energy. And so I am trapped in this armour, lest I become like you... and have everything I touch fall to ruin."

"Well, this just got too real for me. Can we trash the place and make a break for it?" asked Rod, who then remembered he was planning to flying kick Mr. Flex into a cabinet, and did so.

"Yes, I feel it's about time for that too." Alexander reached inside his bag, and took out a jar, which he opened. Dozens of tiny mechanical butterflies fluttered out, floating towards various devices in the room. "These should scramble our signature in their systems. And do other things."

"Butterflies and forgetfulness, that sounds like something else you made a while back." teased Chiemi, who had become fully opaque again, the stabalisation restored.

"You fools. You had your chance. While my communications systems still work... I will feed your location to the Netherese... they are waiting... they will reward me handsomely... you are a very, very wanted man... hahaha..."

"How far you've fallen, De Sastre. Weren't you the one playing them, and now you want their praise?"

"Leave him. We don't have time to figure out what that purple mist would do if we try to kill him. Let's go." advised Meirionwen, heading back towards the breach.

"I'm taking... I'm taking this poor soul with me." said Raia, staring down at the crumpled form of Mr. Flex, who she and Rod had done a number on. A glowing red outline surrounded her arms, and she was able to pick him up and hold him over her head, while she scampered along.

"Um... okay." reacted Chiemi.

A minute later, they arrived at the breech. The skiffs floated around aimlessly - they seemed to have been damaged, possibly having crashed into each other at one point. Alexander took out a complicated looking scope and peered through it.

"I don't think we're getting back on those..."

Alexander heard a buzzing come something in one of his front pockets he took it out, and pressed it.  
"H-hey. Asp hacked the frequency of your sending stone. You know, I probably should have just given one to Raia in the first place. What a moody bitch I was storming off like that. I noticed your skiffs are buggered, want us to shuttle you back?"

The Sky Serpent slid into view past the hole in the hull, and Chiemi linked arms with the crew, eyeing the hold through a porthole. A second later they appeared in the hold, with crates of many different shapes and sizes. Raia dropped Mr. Flex on on a rolled up carpet in the corner, and the rest breathed a sigh of relief. A minute later, the hatch flung open, and Nada and Mamba fell down. Raia immediately ran over to Nada to hug her.

"Not so hard, beta."

"I missed you. Even though we sort of saw each other not long ago."

"Me too, Raia."

"Hello to you too Mamba, it's been a little while. Is everyone doing okay."

"Mostly, young madame, but I'm afraid we lost one... we lost Adder in a prior altercation with the Netherese..."

"Oh, no, this was all over me..."

"Don't worry, we drank to his memory. And will drink again. Adder stayed behind to sort out our deal with the Netherese. He was good for that sort of thing. When they suspected we might not be straight with them, they ended him... but I hear he didn't go down without a fight."

"To Gregory Handle, our precious Adder. We'll never find an Adder better than our Adder, I reckon."

"I'm sorry to say but... it's not over. De Sastre alerted the Netherese to our presents. We're both running from them now. We're going to have to get out of here, and fast."

"Hmm..." said Alexander, rubbing his chin. "I heard the Astral Sea is nice. This time of year, I mean."

"What are you planning?" asked Chiemi.

"That blackhole to the Abyss you said you had..."

"...yes? Well, it's not really a black hole. More of gate generator. I think the Netherese used it to ship stuff through, or something, like with the shadow caravans back on Toril. But black hole sounded more badass."

"Would it be completely crazy if I used my incredible expertise on transplanar teleportation to rig it to bring both our ships to the Astral Sea instead?"

"Yes, Alexander Sondheim. It would be incredibly crazy."

"And dangerous." added Rod.

"And irresponsible." added Meirionwen.

"And stupid." added Chiemi.

"So, we're doing it then, I take it?" said Raia.

Alexander picked up his Sending Stone. "Dr. Lunt? George? Are you alive?"

"... yes." Answered George.

"Honestly, I'm partly surprised you still are. What a terribly dangerous stunt." answered Dr. Lunt.

"Y-yeah, about that..." 

"Transformation cog online. Reconfiguration nodes calibrated. Other important, technical sounding things."

George announced a series of things which indicated that Alexander's latest trick was, in fact, good to go. Fleeing from De Sastre and his crippled fleet, they had taken a day or so to get everything in place.

"Right. Jettison the dimensional gate."

"I really don't understand what you're doing. How are we going to fit through?" said Nada.

"As you may remember from last night, I am quite skilled in putting things through other things."

"Urrrghhh." retorted Nada. "That's the last time I have a pre-emptive victory shag with a randy old Artificer."

"Captain, three Netherese ships are approaching from the aft... estimated time of contact, 3 hours." said one of the Aquatic Elves manning the scanners, called Dafyd. He was impressively buff for an elf but preferred, apparently, the pursuit of knowledge and technical things.

"You know, all things aside, the gate is locked. I couldn't actually figure out how to open it. It had some incredibly complicated mechanism or inputting codes... how did you manage "

"My darling, the way we're doing this, we won't need codes. Regina, give me the _lever._ " Alexander spun around in his chair, steam rising from a panel behind him, where a very shiny and important looking lever was emerging. "Brace for reconfiguration. Superdimensional City-ship Star King, transform!"

Grinding, rumbling, and the sound of huge chunks of wood, rock and metal sliding about could be heard(and seen) all throughout the ship. Two, huge bulky, boxy arms emerged from the side of the city, while two legs dropped down; the nose of the ship still facing forward. The legs came out in such a fashion that two of the rear thrusters were attached, giving the ship more precise manueverability. One of the approaching Netherese ships, by no means small themselves, was swatted away by the gargantuan guantlet of the arm. The others shot down by the Sun Ray, which appeared on the left arm as a mountable energy rifle, taking precise and deadly aim.

"Regina, focus fire on the dimensional gate. Full disruptor blast, maximum focus."

"Aye aye!"

"What the hells are you doing!? I worked hard to steal that gate -"

"Fire!" with those words, a thing silver beam pummelled the gate, a tiny trinket compared to the vast size of the Star King. It was pushed backwards a few hunded meters, then exploded. Luminous Purple-blue clouds spread out for; and the space around where the gate had being became warped, uncertain.

"Ready the right arm. Retract, and..."

"Are you doing what I think you're doing?"

"That's right. Star King, _punch a hole in reality._ "  
The Star King thrusted forwards at an immense speed, it's right fist making contact with the epicentre of the explosion. There was an enormous cracking sound, where there should have been no sound... and space itself began to crack open, shattering like glass.

"Right, crew. This is it. Remember, this is a stolen ship. Some of us are outlaws. Most of us, one way or another, are wanted men. From this moment on, like our friend Nada, we are _pirates._ And we go where we want. Even if we have to punch a hole in space to do it."

"And what about when they inevitably find us again and want their City back?" said Chiemi.

"Then we give it back to them, _in the face._ " suggested Regina, scrunching her fist in her hand.

And that was how the Star King ended up in the Astral Sea.


End file.
